Hidden Phantom
by Angel Frog
Summary: Due to a certain Time Master, no one realized that Danny was supposed to be at Hogwarts until he's sixteen. How will he affect the life of a sad and angry Harry Potter?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Does anyone really think I own anything interesting?

Note: I've been meaning to do this for a while. For anyone who paid attention, yes this is a slightly different version of this chapter. I didn't change much, just the wording on a few things and added Clockwork's exit. For those who like this, you have an anonymous reader called Michi G. according to the e-mail she sent me. She pointed out that I had a few small errors in my chapters, and I told her something along the lines of 'Would you mind pointing them out? I wouldn't mind a little constructive criticism.' To be perfectly honest, I wasn't expecting a reply. I've been meaning to do this for a while, but I keep spacing it. For anyone who knows me, this is not an uncommon thing. The first four chapters have been edited. I haven't taken anything out, just made some slight modifications in each. Details are at the top of each chapter.

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Chapter 1

Danny came home from school in a good mood. For once, he hadn't bombed the test in English, and he knew for a fact that his grades were improving. Ghost activity had lightened _a lot_ recently, and even before that he had been able to find more time to study. 'Getting Sam to help schedule my time was a really good idea. Course, Tucker's the one who's managed to almost single-handedly get me through math so far.'

Walking into his house, Danny's good mood soured slightly when he registered there were two strange men in the living room with Jazz. From the look on Jazz's face, she was glad _someone_ was there, but she wasn't so happy when she realized it was him. That really confused him, since they had gotten closer after Jazz admitted she knew his secret. 

Jazz spoke before Danny could. "Danny! You're home! Ah, these people wanted to speak to you." The smile she gave him was rather strained and immediately put Danny even more on edge. She gestured to the two. "This is Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape."

Turning to study the two, Danny saw that one was an old man with long white hair and a beard, bright blue eyes, and extremely brightly colored clothing. The other was closer to his parents' ages, had black hair and eyes and wore all black. 

Giving them both strange looks, Danny decided that he should at least try to be polite. "Ah, hi. You wanted to talk to me?"

The more colorfully clothed man—Albus Dumbledore—spoke first. "Ah, yes, you are Daniel Fenton? It seems there was a misunderstanding. You were supposed to go to Hogwarts, but for some reason the offer was never answered."

Danny held up a hand and gave him an annoyed look. "Look, for one thing, it's Danny. Not Daniel or Dan or anything like that. Two, what are you talking about?"

Dumbledore didn't seem to take offense at his tone, merely pulling an envelope from a pocket. "You should have received a letter like this one five years ago, but there was never a response."

Danny cautiously took the thing and carefully examined it, barely taking his eyes off Dumbledore for more than a few seconds. Snape, who had been silent for all of this, smirked. He had a feeling he'd like this boy. Finally, Danny handed it to Jazz without opening it. "Do you recognize that?"

Jazz frowned as she, too, examined the envelope without opening it before handing it back to him. "I think so. About five years ago, you got something like this in the mail, but I think mom and dad thought it was a joke."

Danny considered this for a long moment, never once taking his eyes off of Dumbledore. Although the other man had an aura of danger around him, something told him that Dumbledore was the one to be wary of. Since he had started fighting ghosts, he had learned to listen to his instincts. "Would you go get mom and dad?"

Jazz hesitated briefly before doing as he requested. Danny could take care of himself, as he had proven so often, and it would be best to have parental support right now.

Blue locked on blue, and Dumbledore was slightly confused. This boy moved like a seasoned warrior, and obviously didn't trust him. Out of curiosity, he decided to use his Legilimens ability to look into the boy's mind.

Danny stiffened slightly as he felt someone prying into his mind, and his mental shields instantly snapped up. Danny narrowed his eyes slightly as he caught the brief surprised look in Dumbledore's eyes. 'Thought so. He's the one who did that.' 

The slightest smirk curled Danny's lips, but still he didn't look away from Dumbledore. 'I'll have to thank Clockwork the next time I see him. _Let's just say you'll find some use for them,_ he said. Knew better than to ask, it wouldn't be the first time he refused to say anything.'

Just then, Danny's parents and Jazz walked in. Danny smiled and turned toward them. "Hi, mom, dad. Remember that weird letter I got when I was almost eleven?" When they simply nodded, he held up the envelope Dumbledore gave him.

Jack took it and he and Maddie examined it. His face got harder than Danny had seen in a long time, but Maddie was the first to speak. "Isn't this a bit much for a cruel joke?" she asked coldly. "We were mocked enough for our interest in ghosts, and then someone sent a letter from some school that claimed to teach _magic?_ What kind of idiots do you take us for!"

Danny sighed softly. "I don't think they're joking, mom."

The single sentence was enough to stop both Fenton parents in their tracks to stare at their son. Snape spoke for the first time since Danny walked in. "And what brings you to this conclusion? Most would think as your parents do, that this is a joke."

Danny gave him a slightly annoyed look. "I've seen too much to automatically dismiss magic as a possibility, but that's not why I believe you." He cast a gaze filled with more than mere annoyance at Dumbledore. "The fact that your boss tried to break into my mind and something a friend once told me is what makes me think this is more than just a joke."

Jack moved faster than most people had ever seen him and had an ecto-blaster in Dumbledore's face before anyone could react. Maddie moved to cover him when she saw Snape reach for something in his pocket and had her own ecto-blaster pointed before he could react. 

There was silence for a long moment before Snape broke it. "What is the point of this ridiculousness?" Despite the scorn in his tone, he didn't try to move. 

Jack snorted as he kept a close eye on Dumbledore. "The point is that these are ecto-blasters. If you do anything we don't like, we _will_ shoot you. They may not be very harmful to humans, but you will not simply get up from it."

Danny narrowed his eyes when he saw Dumbledore focusing on his dad the same way he had done to him. Without thinking, Danny powered an ecto-blast into his hand and darted around to plant his hand against Dumbledore's spine. "You try to get in my dad's mind, I'll blast you myself. And you'll definitely feel it." He grabbed the man's arm to make sure he wouldn't try to pull away.

Maddie spun around Snape until she was behind him with her blaster also directly against the man's spine and her hand wrapped around his shoulder close to his neck. "Tell us why you are here, and I'll consider letting you walk out instead of being thrown through the front door."

Snape heard the icy seriousness in her tone, and decided he wasn't going to test her resolve. "My colleague, Minerva, recently found out that your son was supposed to go to Hogwarts, but there was never a response. Why it was only found out now, I do not know."

Maddie narrowed her eyes, and glanced toward Dumbledore. Her eyes widened slightly when she realized that not only did Danny not have an ecto-blaster, his_hand itself_ was glowing green, as were his eyes. Something told her to worry about it later, and she went back to questioning her prisoner. "How did he invade Danny's mind?" She gestured slightly with her free hand, blaster not budging an inch. 

Snape frowned slightly, but answered anyway. "Albus is a Legilimens, which means he has the ability to look into another person's mind."

Danny smiled slightly. "Don't worry, mom. He didn't get very far." 

Dumbledore finally spoke. "Yes, you have very impressive shields Mr. Fenton. How did you learn to shield your mind, anyway?"

Danny scowled softly. "You have a lot of nerve, asking questions after you tried to take the answers by force." Then he smirked. "But I have a pretty good idea why you didn't realize I was supposed to be in your school until recently."

Danny's ghost sense went off, and a familiar voice spoke from behind him. "It seems these two made a bad first impression." Turning to Jack, he smiled slightly. "Your son has him well in hand, Mr. Fenton. Albus Dumbledore will not be going anywhere for the moment."

Danny smiled slightly and spoke before anyone could get over their shock enough to speak. "Hey, Clockwork. You were right about the shields, they were very handy."

Clockwork, currently an adult, smiled slightly. "I know. But then, I know everything."

Jazz sighed softly as she looked around at the strange tableau in front of her. "Would somebody _please_ tell me what this is all about?"

Danny smiled. "Sorry, Jazz, I forgot you never met Clockwork." He frowned. "I don't think… This is confusing." There was a slight groan in his voice as he said the last part.

Clockwork smiled slightly and patted him on the shoulder. "It's all right. And no, Jasmine never met me, only Dan."

Jazz gave the strange ghost an annoyed look. "It's Jazz. And did you have to remind me of that creep?" She shuddered slightly. 

Danny frowned at the mention of his future self, but sighed. "All right. What do we do to keep these two from doing anything while we straighten this mess out?"

Clockwork smiled. "Take their wands, and you might want to blindfold Dumbledore. His power to look into a person's mind works through the eyes." 

Danny smiled slightly. "Right. Jazz, can you find their wands?"

Clockwork decided to be helpful, since he was already there anyway. "Snape's is in his right pocket, but you might want to get Dumbledore's yourself, Danny. There are some strange objects hidden in those pockets." 

He smirked. "You have things well in hand, Danny. I must be going. I only stopped in to be of some help." Clockwork calmly left as quickly and mysteriously as he came. Danny snickered softly. Clockwork did like making an exit. 

Finally, Dumbledore found his voice after the time-controlling ghost had left. "Excuse me, but is all this really necessary? All we came here to do was to issue the invitation to young Daniel." The slight heat at his back increased suddenly, and something told Dumbledore to stand very, very still. 

Danny growled softly. "It's _Danny_. Call me Daniel, and I might put up with it, but if you ever call me 'young Daniel' again, I'll fry you no matter what witnesses we have." No one who heard that thought he was anything but dead serious. Considering the fact that his eyes were glowing even brighter than before, it was quite an intimidating threat.

After several minutes and quite a bit of hassle, Snape and Dumbledore were both sitting on the small couch, wands confiscated and Dumbledore blindfolded. 

Danny smirked and glanced over at Snape. "You can do the same thing he can, can't you?" When Snape gave him a confused glare, Danny decided to elaborate. "What did you call it, Legamens? When he tried to get into my mind."

Snape snorted softly. "Legilimens, actually. And yes, it is an ability that I have." 

Danny smirked softly. "Use it on anyone that is here or may come in while you are here, and you'll get your very own blindfold." He smirked softly and decided to up the ante, so to speak. "Of course, you should be warned that the only thing we would use is hot pink."

Jazz saw the look of disgusted horror on the man's face at that, and laughed softly. "Who knew having a Goth as a best friend would prove useful, huh Danny?"

Danny smirked. "Yeah, especially considering her parents. Sam practically runs at the_mention_ of pink sometimes." He paused for a moment. "Speaking of, I'd better call them and ask them to come over."

Snape sneered. "You are going to bring more _muggles_ here? Only the immediate family of a muggle-born student is allowed to find out about the Wizarding World."

Danny narrowed his eyes. "One, I don't know what a muggle is, but I don't like your tone. Two, I tell my friends _everything_. I won't keep something like magic a secret from them." He turned on his heel and went to the nearest phone to call Sam and Tucker.

Maddie frowned as she kept her blaster ready. The way Danny had said that, she knew that Sam and Tucker probably knew all about why Danny's hand and eyes had been glowing. Something told her that she had seen those eyes before, only far less angry.

Before Maddie could figure it out, Danny came back in. "They're on the way. It'll only take a few minutes."

Jack sighed. "Well, son, if you decide to go to this place, you will be calling us as much as possible, right?"

Snape snorted softly before Danny could answer. "Technology doesn't work at Hogwarts. You'll only be able to send letters by owl."

Maddie blinked. "No technology? That's interesting. Does it have to do with the electricity, or is there some other reason?"

Snape sighed, but didn't seem quite as annoyed as before. "Students have brought personal items to school with them. Many of the muggle-born will at times try to bring in some small game or such. If it is electronic, it never works. We've never found out exactly why, though it likely has something to do with the amount of magic in Hogwarts."

Jack raised an eyebrow in interest as an idea came to him. "So there's no restriction on anyone bringing in something like a computer?" 

Snape rolled his eyes. "Of course not. We've never seen the point, since it never works unless they adapt it to run off magic. Besides that, by the time they learn how to do the necessary charms, they often don't bother."

Jack considered this. "Do you have ghosts at this school?"

Jazz and Maddie didn't think anything of this, but Danny gave his father a discreet considering look. Despite what some people (_coughVladcough_) thought, his father was not an idiot. After handling some of his inventions, Danny knew this quite well. 

Snape raised an eyebrow, but nodded. "Yes, we have many ghosts at Hogwarts. The History of Magic Professor and each of the House ghosts are the ones best known. And Peeves, of course."

Danny frowned. "Who's Peeves?"

Snape rolled his eyes a little at all the questions, but still answered. "The resident poltergeist."

The door opened then, cutting off anymore questions. "Hey, Danny. What's going…on?" Sam blinked as she took in the scene. All four Fentons were in the room, all keeping an eye on the two men on the couch. Of the two men, one was dressed in extremely bright clothing, which made Sam wonder if he was colorblind, and had a black cloth tied over his eyes. He also seemed to be privately amused by something or other. The other man was wearing all black, and had an extremely dark look on his face. 

Tucker came in just behind Sam and also took in the scene. "Uh, Danny? What's going on?"

Dumbledore smiled slightly. "You do realize that that story may be a little complicated. After all, not even Mr. Fenton has gotten the entire story yet."

Danny gave the man an annoyed look that had both Sam and Tucker raising eyebrows. "When we want to know the rest, we'll ask. Until then, I would appreciate it if you did not make me dig out something that could be used as a gag." Everybody's eyebrows, including Snape's, rose at the icy tone and obvious dislike for the man. Of course, everyone but Sam and Tucker had some idea why.

Danny calmly walked over and pulled both Sam and Tucker out of immediate earshot. Before he could speak, Tucker did. "Man, Danny. I haven't seen you give anyone but Vlad that nasty a look in a long time."

Danny smiled slightly. "Yeah, well, I really don't like that guy. Something about him is grating on my nerves, and it's not just his fashion sense." Both snickered at that, and Danny quickly began to explain what had happened so far. When he was done, Sam decided to do a quick re-cap.

"Okay, so you come in, see these guys, they tell you something about a letter to some magic school, and when you send Jazz to get your parents, the guy with no fashion sense decides to try and invade your mind?" Danny nodded and she snorted. "No wonder you're pissed off."

Danny laughed a bit at that, while Tucker simply nodded in agreement at her assessment. "Yeah, dude, with your secrets having someone just walk on in and try to take a look must really suck."

Danny nodded. "Yeah, and it's making me more and more glad that Clockwork's a good teacher. The shields he taught me kept that guy out, and he seemed surprised that I had them." He glared back toward the old man, not surprised to see his face turned toward them. 

Turning slightly, he lowered his voice a bit as he added. "And I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if this guy's got good ears, so nothing about certain secrets while they're here. One more thing, the other guy, Snape, can do the same thing Dumbledore did, and look in people's minds." He turned back toward the group once more. 

Tucker cocked his head slightly. "So what did you do to make sure he wouldn't try the same thing his boss did?" He saw no reason not to let the guy know he was asking; it wasn't like it was that big a deal.

Danny smirked in a way that reminded his friends of when he did the best pranks. "I threatened him with a hot pink blindfold." 

Okay, maybe it was a big deal. Sam flat-out stared at him, trying not to laugh. "Danny, you've been hanging around me too long."

Danny laughed. "Do you really want to say that about your boyfriend? I mean, who knows I could get a fan club, and everyone would be happy to get me to spend less time with you!" He ignored the slight chill down his back as he thought of a fan club. It wasn't like it would happen, right?

Sam rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. Like that would happen. They'd have to see past the show of 'nerdy Danny Fenton' before they even realized how good-looking you are."

Tucker shook his head slightly as he watched the two. 'Those two really haven't changed much towards each other. The biggest thing that's changed is that the kisses aren't really 'fake-out make-out's anymore. I wonder if anyone at school even really knows.' He decided to join in after that last comment. "I don't know Sam, after all Danny does take his shirt off to practice."

Sam's eyes glazed over for a moment. "Don't I know it," she murmured. Then her eyes widened and a bright blush spread across her cheeks. "I mean…!"

_(break)_

(1) There are times I almost pity Danny, especially since he's a favorite of Mr. Murphy's.

AN: Yes, I know. I have another story that I haven't worked on in a while, and I really shouldn't put up another new story. Unfortunately, this one has been bugging me for a while. I just recently decided it was ready to be put up when I finally got a title for it. I don't know how often I'll update, since I've got quite a bit on this one, but I need to sort out the order of everything.

On a different note, for anyone who reads 'Neko' I am really sorry. I've gotten blocked on a certain point in that story and until I can sort it out, Ranma won't give me any more material for it. There are times I could strangle him. If anyone wants to help, could you suggest a good nickname-type-thing for Charles Xavier from X-Men Evolution? I got to a certain point and suddenly realized I didn't have a clue for it, and neither does anyone else I've asked. Help?


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: If I owned anything interesting, I'd be a hell of a lot richer

Note: Yes, version two, same chapter. All thanks to Michi G. Nothing major here, just a little change in wording and such.

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Chapter 2

Harry sighed softly when the door opened, but was relieved when Remus was the one to enter. "Hey, Moony." He looked back down at the book in his lap, which he was reading while lounging comfortably on the bed. 

Remus smiled slightly, knowing that anyone else would have gotten silence at best and a curse at worst. "Hey, cub. It seems you've scared the others quite a bit."

Harry frowned slightly. "What do you mean?" 

"Well, everybody's been worried about you—" Harry snorted. "—so when they figured out where you were hiding now, they practically carried me up here, ordering me to talk to you." There was a slight smirk hovering around his mouth, trying unsuccessfully to be an innocent look.

Harry snorted again, though there was a smirk curling his lips as well. "Practically carried you up? Poor thing. What brought that on?" 

Remus stopped trying to look innocent. "The fact that you either ignore or curse whoever comes in here, with the exception of me and occasionally Mrs. Weasley?"

Harry gave him a mock-annoyed look. "What, they couldn't find Mrs. Weasley?"

Remus snorted at him. "Nah, they just wanted to guarantee whoever got sent wouldn't be ignored. Did you know Ron _still_ can't say anything? That_silencio_ you used on him must have been powerful."

Harry smiled slightly at the subtle questioning tone. "I just _really_ wanted him to shut up for a while. He hasn't gotten his nerve up enough to come ask me to take it off. At least Hermione got a clue."

Remus sighed and sat down across from him. "Care to tell me what he said?"

Harry snorted again, any trace of a good mood gone. "The brainless idiot told me I shouldn't be moping inside all the time, and asked if I wanted to go outside for a while and fly. I might have considered it if he hadn't mentioned that if I didn't want to, he would be willing to 'take care of' my broom for me until I stopped 'being all mope-y'."

Remus snorted, in perfect agreement with Harry. "Don't tell me you left him with just an unbreakable silencing curse? Idiocy deserves more than that." He didn't add that he would have been tempted to do something a lot more permanent.

Harry smirked. "What makes you think that?" He showed Moony the cover of the book he was reading. 1001 Prank Ideas by Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. "Why didn't anyone _tell_ me you guys published a book? I had to find out from the twins when I asked for ideas!"

Remus blinked for a minute before he laughed. "I almost forgot about that! We had a lot of fun putting it together."

Harry snorted and flipped through the book for a moment. "Yeah, I bet you did." He showed Moony what he had found, and the werewolf cracked up laughing. It was a moving picture of Lily, about 14 or 15, and her hair was cycling through every single color imaginable, and a few that weren't. It might have been a neat idea but for two things. One, the cycling was completely random and unpredictable, and two, all colors included some really disgusting ones.

Remus finally managed to get his laughter under control enough to speak. "Oh, yes, I remember that one. Lily said something or other to James, and he took great offense. I can't even remember what it was, now. Anyway, he came up with the idea to hex her hair so it would all be different colors. You really can't tell in that picture, but her eyebrows and hair were always different colors, and they usually clashed horribly."

Harry was laughing as Remus explained, and took a closer look. At that moment, the normally-redheaded girl turned toward him with a fierce glare on her face. Unfortunately, the effect was cancelled somewhat by the fact that her eyebrows were neon green and her hair was light purple.

After a long, companionable moment of silence, Remus decided to ask about something that had been bothering him. "Why do you seem especially mad at Dumbledore lately? Mrs. Weasley tried to ask him, but he just kind of avoided the question." 

Harry snorted, good mood instantly soured. "I'm mad at the old fool because he proved that I am only a weapon to him. Right after Sirius was killed, too."

Remus winced slightly at the reminder, and at Albus's incredibly poor timing. That night had been when he lost his last pack member besides Harry, and it had taken quite a bit of time and effort before he convinced Harry that it was not his fault. "How did he do that?"

Harry snorted. "Told me the prophecy. Then he told me why he avoided even looking me in the eye the whole school year. Something about he didn't want Voldemort to use me to look into his mind. That's also why he tried to get Snape to teach me Occlumency, even though it didn't work."

Remus snorted softly. "That is one of the stupidest things I've ever heard." He caught Harry's cautiously curious look and decided to explain. "Well, first, he told you the prophecy, even though you had no way to shield your mind. He tells you he didn't want Voldemort to try to use you to find it out, but he told you, knowing that it would be even easier for Voldemort to try and pull the information from _your_ mind. He even had the nerve to tell it to you right after Padfoot was killed." 

Remus growled and reached out to pull Harry into a hug. He waited a moment until Harry relaxed somewhat from the unexpected move before continuing. "And of course, the crowning moment of stupidity was to have _Snape_ try and teach you to shield your mind." 

Harry sighed and finally relaxed into the werewolf's side. "Officially, I was taking Remedial Potions, even though I'm not that bad at it when I'm not sabotaged and can concentrate. Of course, Snape was doing all he could to make it impossible to learn from him. About the only thing he told me was to 'clear my mind'." 

Remus growled softly but didn't interrupt him. "Then, of course, he kept knocking down whatever shields I tried to make almost as soon as they were there. Kept pulling up some of my worst memories from the Dursleys and had the nerve to accuse me of creating false memories, or some bullshit like that."

Remus snorted. "Bullshit is right. The man is a prejudiced idiot sometimes. You're going to have to do something drastic to convince him that you're not James, but I have no idea what you could possibly do." Harry simply nodded slightly, relaxing further. Finally, Remus spoke once more. "Come on, I'll teach you how to meditate. It might help."

Harry frowned and pulled away as Remus stood. "Meditate? How would that help? And how do you know how?" 

Remus grinned, not the least offended. "I had to learn how to meditate so I could control my wolf instincts. It was one of the conditions before I could go to Hogwarts. And meditation is mostly about learning how to clear your mind, anyway." Harry got a thoughtful look on his face as he followed Remus, realizing that he was probably right.

_(break)_

Long after Snape and Dumbledore left, Danny lay on top of the Op-Center, looking at the stars. A lot had happened that day, and the stars had always helped him settle down and sort out his thoughts.

'This has been a really screwy day. Thank God school's almost over, I don't think I could get through much more of it with this hanging over my head. Of course, that Dumbledore guy is coming back after school ends. He said something about giving me the summer to catch up on all the course work for his school.' Danny sighed and shifted slightly to a more comfortable position. 

'After today, I just know I'm going to have to explain a few things. I know for a fact mom noticed that I had an ecto-blast gathered in my hand. She kept giving me strange looks. How long will it take her to realize where she's seen my green eyes before? And what does dad have up his sleeve this time? He wasn't just asking about whether there were ghosts at Hogwarts. Something gave him an idea, and I have a feeling it's something to keep in touch.'

Danny frowned as his eyes absently picked out each of the constellations. 'I'm going to go to that school, I know that. I wonder why Clockwork wants me to be there, and why he didn't let me go when I was eleven. Does it have to do with the halfa thing?' Danny didn't look up when he heard footsteps coming up behind him, just automatically noticed that it was his mom. 

Maddie sighed softly as she studied Danny's prone form. After a long moment, she sat down beside him. "So how long have you been keeping this a secret from us?"

Danny smiled slightly. "Since the beginning of freshman year. How much have you figured out?" 

Maddie sighed again. "I've figured out that in some way you are Danny Phantom. It took me a while to figure out where I'd seen those eyes before. It took me longer to decide not to come out here with an ecto-gun, and demand that Phantom get out of my son, since I thought you were being overshadowed." She didn't mention how painful that decision had been, wanting to know more.

Danny sat up and sighed, but didn't look at his mom. "I'm not being overshadowed, mom. It's a lot more complicated than that." He paused for a long moment, trying to decide how to approach this. "Do you remember when you and dad first built the portal in the basement?" Maddie nodded but didn't interrupt. "Well, I got curious about it, put on a hazmat suit that looked about my size, and went inside." 

Danny hugged himself, shivering slightly, but Maddie still didn't interrupt. She could tell it was very hard for him to tell her. "I had a hand on the wall, in case I tripped on something. I didn't really notice the button until I accidentally pushed it, and a green light came from the end of the tunnel." 

Maddie's eyes widened and she pulled her son to her, as if to assure herself that he was still there. Danny simply continued his tale. "I know it didn't actually last very long, but it felt like years. The pain was horrible. When I finally stumbled out, I didn't look quite like myself anymore." Without moving away or saying anything, he looked her in the eye and transformed into Danny Phantom.

Maddie pulled back for a moment, caught by surprise, but quickly pulled him close again when she saw the glint of hurt in those green eyes. "I'm sorry, you just surprised me." Standing up, she pulled him to his feet as well and calmly began to study him. 'White hair, green eyes, a little taller than me, and he used to wear a hazmat suit very similar to ours. Gee, I feel stupid right now.' 

Maddie shook her head slightly. "How did I ever not notice? I mean, you've never really fought back when we hunted you," she winced slightly at the memories of that, but continued. "You've even nearly called me mom a few times!" She almost wailed the last bit as she pulled her surprised son into a hug, ignoring his cooler body temperature. 

Danny hesitantly hugged her back as he considered how to answer. "Well, you've always thought it was impossible for a ghost to be human, or for a human to have ghost powers. I guess you just never noticed because you weren't looking for it," he replied a bit awkwardly. Then he smiled slightly. "Besides, I've been doing my best to hide it from everyone from the beginning."

Maddie smiled slightly, feeling slightly better. "True." She took a deep breath to calm herself, and settled once more on the roof. Danny decided to sit down a few inches above the metal beside her. "Do you mind if I ask some questions then?" she asked, settling into a more authoritative role. 

Danny smiled slightly. She was taking this reasonably well. "Go ahead." He paused for a moment. "You're going to be a mom and ask some really embarrassing questions, aren't you?"

Maddie smiled slightly and didn't answer. "How long have Sam and Tucker known about all this?"

Danny sighed softly. "From the beginning, actually. They were there that day." He winced slightly. "Sam still feels kind of guilty about it sometimes, since she was the one who convinced me to look, but I've never held it against her." 

He shook his head. "She's never told me which the worst part of that day was: knowing that if she hadn't been there I probably wouldn't have gotten like this, hearing it happen, or when I literally fell through her hands when she tried to help me up afterwards."

Maddie winced. Danny had barely mentioned how painful the process had been, but she had no doubt that Sam and Tucker had heard his screams. They had been unable to help and unable to force themselves to leave, not even to get an adult, forced to stay there and listen to their best friend go through such excruciating pain. 

Danny shook himself slightly to rid himself of the memory of that day. "Should we tell dad?" 

Maddie shook herself out of her imaginings. "Yes, I think that would be for the best. He needs to know, and I don't think I could bear to keep a secret like this from him, especially when he'll still think of you as just another ghost if we don't." She frowned slightly as she realized something. "You didn't say anything about Jazz. How long has she known?" 

Danny smiled slightly. "A while now, actually. I think she found out a couple months after it happened. When I finally realized that she had known, she told me she wanted to wait until I told her to tell me she knew."

Maddie smiled slightly. "Yeah, that sounds like Jazz, alright. How did she find out? And when did you realize she knew?"

Danny rolled his eyes. "She saw me transform. And I finally figured out that she knew around the time of the C.A.T. test." He shook his head. "That one's a story in itself."

Maddie laughed softly and stood up. "Well, no point in telling it more than once, hmm? You go grab Jazz and I'll get your father away from whatever he's working on now so we can explain everything to him." 

Danny grinned and dived down through the metal of the op-center. Maddie blinked for a moment, staring at the spot he had gone through. Then she sighed. "That is going to take some getting used to." She turned and took a more conventional way down to the house.

Danny turned invisible as he phased into Jazz's room, and saw she was at her desk, working on something. He grinned and silently snuck up behind her. Holding his breath for a moment, he spoke. "Boo."

Jazz shrieked, caught completely off guard, and stood up so fast her chair fell over. Whirling around, she was faced with her now-visible ghostly brother, who was laughing so hard he was doubled over in mid-air. "Danny! What did you do that for!"

Danny paused for a long moment. "Just for the look on your face," he answered, somehow managing to suppress a smirk. Then he lost control of his laughter once more as she simply stared at him, lost for words.

Finally, Jazz growled loudly and attempted to grab him. Of course, he didn't make it easy for her, going intangible when she tried. "Stop laughing!" Lowering her voice, she added, "And why are you in here like that? Who knows how mom and dad would react if they saw you in my room?"

Danny took a deep breath and finally stopped laughing. "Well, Mom wouldn't care too much, and she'll keep Dad occupied until we're ready to go down." He transformed back to his human form as he spoke.

Jazz frowned. "Mom wouldn't care? Wait a minute, you told her!"

Danny shook his head. "Actually, she figured it out herself. Especially after what happened earlier." He made his eyes glow green to prove his point. "She seemed to take it reasonably well, especially when I told her a bit about everything. She decided to go get Dad and tell him about it, and told me to get you. I guess she doesn't want me to have to go over my story more than once."

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Meanwhile, Maddie had barely reached the kitchen when she heard a loud shriek from her daughter's room. She was about to go see what was wrong, but Jazz started yelling at Danny. Maddie shook her head in amusement. "Those two."

Maddie went down the steps to the lab, and was met with an unusual sight. Unlike she'd thought, Jack wasn't working on anything, or even making plans for something. Instead, he was sitting with his elbows on the table and his chin propped up on his hands, seeming deep in thought. He looked up when she came down the stairs.

Jack smiled when he saw his wife. "Hey, Maddie. How are the kids?"

Maddie smiled slightly. "Well, I think Danny decided to prank Jazz with something or other. I heard her yelling at him just after she screamed." She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, not sure how to approach this. "Jack, about Danny…"

Jack gave her a serious look as she trailed off. "He's not being overshadowed, is he?" It wasn't really a question, since he already knew the answer.

Maddie blinked. "No, that's what I went to talk to him about. How did you…?"

Jack smiled. "I saw his eyes glow just like you did Maddie. And I have no doubt that you would have kicked that ghost's butt if it was overshadowing Danny."

Maddie smiled and shook her head. "Sometimes, Jack Fenton, it is so easy to underestimate you. Then you do something to remind me of why exactly I agreed to marry you."

Jack grinned. "Ah, Maddie!" He reached out and swept her into an extremely passionate kiss, which she happily returned. Of course, the moment was just_begging_ to be ruined. A cry of "Oh, gross!" and the pounding of footsteps back up the stairs made the two pull away and glance toward the stairs in time to see their son's feet disappearing around the corner.

Maddie leaned her head against Jack's chest and started laughing. Jack grinned down at her. "That's another reason I don't think Danny is being overshadowed." That only made Maddie laugh even harder.

In the end, Danny found telling his parents about his life as a ghost a bit easier than he had ever feared. A question about who Clockwork was led to Danny telling the whole story about Dan, with Jazz adding in her own part in the story. Danny even told them about what had happened in the part of the story that only he, Clockwork, and Dan himself even knew about. He mostly focused on the fight, as his parents and sister listened with rapt attention. 

The only thing Danny left out in the tale was just how he had felt in that heart-stopping moment before Clockwork showed him his family, friends, and teacher were fine, when he had thought they were dead. That moment haunted his nightmares often enough without the reminder.

The explanations and stories lasted well into the night, and Danny smiled slightly as he went to bed that night. 'It took forever to tell them everything, but it was worth it. I don't have to lie to my parents anymore, and they won't hunt me anymore now that they know I'm their son.' He rolled over onto his back and stared at the ceiling, eyes already drooping closed. 'They might even be able to clear my name as Danny Phantom.'

One last thought crossed his mind before he could no longer stay awake. 'It's a good thing tomorrow is Saturday. I don't think anyone's going to want to get up early.'

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AN: Okay, first of all don't expect me to update so quickly all the time. It's just that this is a fun story, and I managed to write another chapter. Like I said in the last chapter, I need to sort out what I've got a bit, but I've also got to write certain scenes. In this one, the bit with Remus and Harry was already written. The rest I wrote today. Don't you feel special? Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as you enjoyed the first one. 


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Do I have to?

Note: A new version of Chapter 3, thanks to Michi G. Details are in Ch 1. Okay, for this one, Harry explains why exactly he's willing to be around everyone. :p Apparently that was the only major thing in this one.

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Chapter 3

A couple days after Danny's last day of school, Dumbledore was once more at his house. Danny looked at the old wizard in annoyance, not bothering to try to hide his dislike. "So you're here to take me wherever you want me to be for the summer, to 'catch up'?"

Dumbledore beamed at him. "Yes, that's right Mr. Fenton. Several of my students will use the summer to hit most of the high points in the earlier years, so that you will be reasonably caught up by the time the school year begins."

Danny gave him a mistrustful look and stepped to one side, leaving the door open as an unwilling invitation. Dumbledore ignored his unwillingness and simply walked past him. 

Sam looked up when Dumbledore came in with Danny following him. "Hey, Danny, who was…it?" She trailed off as she saw Dumbledore and went to stand by her boyfriend in silent support. Tucker moved around to Danny's other side, keeping a watchful eye on Dumbledore. 

Tucker raised an eyebrow. "I'm guessing you're supposed to leave now?" 

Danny smirked. "Yep. Would you mind getting my parents and Jazz?" He never took his eyes off of Dumbledore, still not trusting the man. Tucker and Sam silently exchanged glances, knowing better than to argue. Danny had gone into a kind of 'protective mode' that he got whenever he fought one of the nastier ghosts. Sam went upstairs to get Jazz while Tucker went to the lab to get Danny's parents.

Dumbledore smiled slightly at Danny. "Would you mind telling me why you seem so distrustful of me, Mr. Fenton?" 

Danny rolled his eyes slightly. "Oh, gee, let me think. Maybe it was the fact that you tried to invade my mind?"

Dumbledore gave him a knowing look. "You did not trust me before I became curious. That was why I tried to look in the first place."

Danny grinned as he heard Sam and Tucker coming back with his parents and sister. "I guess you'll have to live with your curiosity."

The next few minutes were busy, consisting of Jazz handing Danny his suitcase and backpack, his parents giving him another bag they said had some useful things in it, and everyone saying goodbye to Danny. Through the whole thing, Danny never turned his back on Dumbledore. Finally, Danny was ready to go. He had his backpack on his back, a large bag with a long strap slung over his shoulders, and his suitcase in one hand. 

Dumbledore smiled when he saw that Danny was ready to go. "Well, then Mr. Fenton, take hold of my arm, and don't let go." 

Danny silently did as he was told, and suddenly felt a feeling that was like teleportation, only not. He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to keep his sudden vertigo under control. When he opened them, they were on an unfamiliar street.

Dumbledore smiled and handed Danny a scrap of paper. "Memorize that."

Danny cautiously took the paper and looked at it. _The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London._ Looking at Dumbledore, he raised an eyebrow. "Now what?"

Dumbledore smiled and calmly took the paper back and destroyed it. "Now, concentrate on what the paper said, but don't say it out loud."

Danny rolled his eyes but did as he was told. His eyes widened and he barely kept his jaw from dropping when he saw a house seeming almost to inflate between two houses where there had been nothing before, not even an empty lot.

Dumbledore calmly led the way, pleased at having shocked the boy. "This way, you must be introduced to everyone." Danny followed him with the feeling that it would be a long summer.

_(break)_

Mrs. Weasley bustled around, gathering up her children as well as Harry and Hermione. "Come on, then. Dumbledore will be back with the new student any minute." 

Harry rolled his eyes a bit, but did as he was told. Mrs. Weasley was one of the few people he didn't mind lately, so he didn't see any harm in following her direction. Hermione didn't seem to mind a bit. 

Harry shook his head. He had started coming out of his room more, mostly after being bugged by Mrs. Weasley about it. He could try to ignore her, but she had had seven children to practice on. It hadn't taken long for her to get through his walls once she put her mind to it. 

Harry suspected that Remus had told her to try. It was something that he wouldn't put past the werewolf. Besides, meditation had helped him a lot, not to mention hearing stories about his parents and Sirius while they were in school. He felt he knew them all much better than he'd ever had a chance to. 

Coming back to the real world, Harry smirked when he noticed the way Hermione was bouncing slightly on her toes. "Why is there a new student coming now? And why should he be coming here, instead of simply going to Hogwarts at the beginning of the school year?"

Mrs. Weasley smiled slightly at the girl's enthusiasm. "He was actually supposed to go to Hogwarts from the beginning, but for some reason any records of it were misplaced. Professor McGonagall didn't know how when I asked her. I'm assuming he's here to get caught up on the material." 

Harry rolled his eyes knowingly, exchanging an amused glance with a still-silent Ron when he saw Hermione's face light up. Ginny grinned from her place opposite Harry. "Gee, Hermione, looks like you're all set to help, and you haven't even met the guy."

Hermione flushed hotly and opened her mouth to retort, but the door opening interrupted her.

Danny followed Dumbledore into the house, for a moment obscured from view by the old man's robes. It was just enough time to get a glimpse of those waiting in the hall. 'Four teenagers, two girls and two guys, about my age, and a woman closer to my parents' age. By family resemblance, I'd say she's probably the mother of the two redheads.'

Mrs. Weasley swept forward as soon as Danny came into view. "Oh, you must be Daniel!" Looking him up and down, she pushed him toward the kitchen. "Oh, you're much too thin. Come on." 

Danny didn't try to resist, recognizing that the woman was simply being a mother. He smiled slightly, though he did correct her. "Erm, thanks, I think. And it's Danny, not Daniel." 

Mrs. Weasley smiled. "Of course, Danny. I'm Molly Weasley." She pushed him to the table and turned to make something. "And Harry, you'll get something too, you're still much too thin!"

Harry smiled. Mrs. Weasley had always acted a bit like a surrogate mother to him, especially once he became friends with Ron and his brothers. Turning to the slightly shell-shocked teen that hadn't even had time to put down his luggage, he grinned. "Don't mind Mrs. Weasley, that's normal for her." 

Danny smiled slightly as he shook off his shock. "Thanks, I was wondering." He stood up and set his bags out of the way in a corner. "I'm Danny Fenton."

Harry grinned. He was still going to be cautious about Danny for a while, but he saw no reason not to be polite. "Harry Potter. That's Ron and Ginny Weasley, and Hermione Granger." He pointed to each in turn. Ron started to say something, but stopped when no sound came out, while Ginny just said a polite hello. Hermione was a whole other story. 

Hermione smiled. "Hello. Do you know why you didn't come for first year? I've read in Hogwarts: A History that it's nearly impossible to be overlooked, and the teachers try to make sure every student who needs magical training at least has a chance to come."

Danny grinned and shook his head slightly. He could already guess who would help catch him up to the right year. "Well, my parents thought it was some kind of cruel joke at their expense, so they threw out the letter."

Hermione frowned, but Harry was the one who spoke, curious despite his caution. "Shouldn't you have gotten more letters? When I didn't get my first letter, they just sent more, and eventually Hagrid came to get me."

Danny gave a mischievous grin. "Let's just say a friend of mine knows what he's doing." 

Hermione tried to ask more, but Danny simply refused to answer. Finally, Mrs. Weasley interrupted the discussion by putting a plate of cookies in the middle of the table. "Go on, eat up. You're much too thin, both of you." She turned and walked out of the room, muttering about clean-up duties.

Danny and Harry rolled their eyes nearly simultaneously, but obediently began eating cookies. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were happy to help, and they simply talked for a while. Danny told the four a bit about his hometown, his family, and his friends, while Hermione, Harry, and Ginny told him stuff about the Wizarding World. Ron was still unable to talk. 

After a while, the plate of cookies was empty, and talking had mostly wound down. Then Snape stalked in, ignoring the way Harry glared at him. He silently made himself some tea and started to leave. Then he noticed Danny. He glared at Danny, then swept out of the room and left as silently as he had entered. Everyone but Danny was left blinking in surprise. 

Ginny stared after the retreating professor. "Man, I've only seen him give glares that bad to Harry. What did you do, Danny?"

Danny grinned. "Are you sure you want to know?" 

Hermione looked like she wanted to pounce on him. "Tell us!" The others nodded frantically in agreement.

Danny grinned. "Well, a few weeks ago, Snape and Dumbledore came to my house to tell me about how I was supposed to go to Hogwarts. Jazz was the one who met them first, and I got home a few minutes after they arrived. I got her to go get our parents, since I figured we needed some help there." He frowned slightly. "Dumbledore had the nerve to try to look in my mind." Eyes widened, nobody missing the 'try'.

"My parents came up, and they were really angry when they saw the letter. They still thought it was a cruel joke, and were about to go off on them, when I told them that Dumbledore had tried to invade my mind." He shook his head slightly. 

"Dad pulled an ecto-blaster on Dumbledore, and Mom pulled one on Snape when it looked like he'd interfere. I noticed that Dumbledore was about to do the same thing on Dad that he did on me, and got ready to blast him in the spine if he tried anything. We were like this for a minute, and an old friend of mine pops in and tells us we should blindfold Dumbledore and take both his and Snape's wands." 

By now, the other four were staring at him open-mouthed. Finally, Ginny spoke. "They let you? Is that why Snape's so annoyed with you?"

Danny shook his head. "If that was all, I don't think it would have been a big deal. He'd have been annoyed, but he'd probably put up with it." He considered it for a long moment. "I think it was my threat of giving him his very own blindfold that did it."

Harry gave him a strange look. "Why would a blindfold bother the greasy git?"

Danny smirked. "It might have been the color. After all, anyone who dresses like him will probably do just about anything to avoid hot pink."

All four stared, jaws dropped and eyes wide. Behind Danny, there was a sudden burst of laughter. Danny twisted around and saw a man with light brown hair touched with gray and light brown eyes, laughing. 

Remus smiled. "Now why didn't we think of that one? It would have been the perfect prank, turning Snape pink!" He smiled slightly at Danny. "I'm Remus Lupin."

"Danny Fenton." Danny gave him a strange look. 'Weird, he kind of reminds me of Wulf.'

Remus noticed the look and raised an eyebrow. "Is something wrong?" he asked cautiously.

Danny shook his head. "Oh, sorry. No, nothing wrong, you just remind me of someone." He paused. "Which is weird cause you don't look at all like him and he doesn't speak too much English." 

Harry looked between the two. "Who does he remind you of, then?"

Danny stood up and stretched. "A ghost who speaks mostly Esperanto named Wulf." He walked over to his bags and glanced up at them, ignoring their seeming shock. "Would someone mind telling me where I can put my stuff?"

Remus shook his head. "Come on, you're bunking with Harry and Ron." He led the way up the stairs, with all five teens following him. "We'd give everybody their own room, but we still haven't managed to clean out all of them, and we don't know which ones aren't safe."

Remus glanced at Danny, and decided to just ask what he was wondering about. "Why do you think it's so strange that I remind you of this ghost?"

Danny shrugged. "Like I said, he only speaks Esperanto and a little bit of English. Wulf considers me a friend, since I once helped free him from Walker." He shook his head slightly. "Anyway, it's a bit strange because he looks about like a wolf-man from the really bad horror movies."

Remus stopped short and stared. Danny got a few steps farther before he realized Remus wasn't moving anymore, and turned back. Remus wasn't the only one staring, the others were too. "Is something wrong?"

The four teens and Remus exchanged glances. While neither the Weasleys nor Remus really understood the reference, they _had_ caught on that 'wolf-man' could easily be seen as 'werewolf'. Finally, Harry spoke. "You just caught us by surprise. What do you mean your friend looks like a 'wolf-man'?"

Danny shrugged. "Couple feet taller than I am, covered in dark fur, with a face that's almost like a wolf's. He walks upright, but he's also obviously wolf-like, especially his feet and hands. He's a nice guy, if he likes you. Last I heard from him, he can speak in English a bit better, but he still complains about the grammar. Not that I blame him."

Danny turned and walked up the stairs, ignoring the fact that the others still hadn't budged an inch. At the top of the stairs, he paused for a moment before turning left. 

Harry frowned for a moment and followed him, with the others finally coming up behind him. Harry reached the top just in time to see Danny poke his head in a room for a moment before entering. Harry blinked as he realized that it was the room he and Ron shared. "Weird, how did he know which one?" 

Ginny shrugged. "Guess you'll have to ask him." 

Harry frowned but went over and walked into the room. Inside, Danny had set his stuff on the third bed that had been recently added. 

Danny put his suitcase down at the end of the bed with his backpack on top of it and settled into a cross-legged position with the last bag, which his parents had given him. He ignored when Harry and the others came in, looking through the bag instead. 'Hmm, a couple thermoses, with a note to try and send them back when they get full. A couple Jack-o-nine-tails, the Fisher which dad finally untangled, a few blasters, and… whoa.' 

Danny pulled out something that was simply a handle with a button on the side. He cautiously held it in front of him and pressed the button, not sure what to expect. What he got was a staff like the one his mother had used the time they were sent to Vlad's cabin. 'Now _this_ is going to be useful.' He grinned and turned it off before sticking it back in his bag. 'Better not let everybody know what I have. I can check out the rest later.'

Harry blinked when the staff came to life, but decided to speak when Danny made it collapse and put it away before giving him an expectant look. "Erm, well, how did you know which room it was?"

Danny shrugged. "No dust on the floor to the left, while there was still some to the right. This door was open, and there was no dust on it, either. Besides, it's kind of obvious when it's a guys' room and there are three beds."

Dumbledore came into the room before Harry could think of an answer. Harry and Remus both gave him wary looks, but Harry was surprised to see the outright hostility on Danny's face. Dumbledore smiled, ignoring the looks. "Ah, I see you've already started to settle in," he commented to Danny. "I trust everything is to your liking?"

Danny nodded, keeping his eyes on Dumbledore. "Of course, everything is fine. Was there anything else, or were you hoping for another chance to invade somebody's mind? I'm sure you haven't had a chance recently."

Dumbledore ignored the comment. "Good, good. I just came to tell you that Severus will be taking you for your basic school supplies—robes, a wand, that sort of thing. He expects punctuality, so be ready to leave at nine tomorrow morning." Without another word, he turned and walked out. 

Danny glared after the man, wishing so much that he could risk blasting the old man right then and there. Unfortunately he had witnesses. Speaking of…

Hermione blinked. "Why are you so hostile towards him? He just came up to make sure things were going smoothly." 

Danny frowned. "I already said something about how he tried to invade my mind the first time we met. So far, he hasn't given me any reason to think any better of him."

Ginny frowned. "I can understand being angry about having your privacy invaded, but wasn't that a few weeks ago? Why is it still such a big deal?"

Danny gave the redhead a level look, almost seeming to judge her. Finally, he shook his head. "For one thing, it may have been a few weeks ago, but I won't forgive something like that so easily. Especially not when he hasn't bothered to apologize for it, and hasn't shown any sign that he ever will."

Remus frowned. "What's the second thing?"

Danny grinned, but there was no humor in it. "There are people who pretend to be your friend for some reason only to betray you. I know of at least one good situation right there, and Dumbledore reminds me far too much of Vlad. 

"Besides that, Jazz was wary of him the first time she ever saw him. She studies a lot of psychology, and I trust her. Third thing? Snape may wear danger like a cloak, but Dumbledore was the one _my_ instincts screamed at me not to turn my back on. I've learned to trust my instincts, they don't tend to steer me wrong."

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AN: Hope you like. I know Danny saying goodbye and leaving with Dumbledore may seem a bit rushed, but I wasn't sure how to put it, so I kinda cheated with that. Hermione may seem a little eager, especially when Danny asked if they wanted to know how he pissed off Snape, but think about it. She's the type of person who'd like to know everything. Plus, she's smart enough to figure out quite a bit, once she has the right clues. I figure secrets would drive her nuts, and someone asking if she really wanted to know something would be worse.

For those of you following Neko, don't worry. I haven't abandoned it or anything, and I think I might be able to get around the block soon. Unfortunately, I don't know when I'll put up another chapter.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I can't think of anything funny. Imagine your own.

Note: If you've read the first three, then I think you know what's going on by now. The details of why are in the first chapter, but right now I think everyone should thank Michi G. Okay, again in this chapter there are only minor changes. One thing though, that I think I'll mention. I haven't read the fifth book. I have no intention of reading the fifth book. The only reason I set this story after said book was that it fit the idea. All this means that I know the basics of the book, but I can flub on details. This said, the wonderful Michi G. has pointed out to me that thestrals have fur and feathers, not scales. It's almost as bad as when I said knuts were copper instead of bronze, though this is more understandable. All this means that Danny's wand core is a thestral feather, not scale. Thank you, that's all for now.

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Chapter 4

The next morning, Danny was up and around at seven, unable to sleep any longer. 'If this weren't so useful, I'd be annoyed,' he thought ruefully. 'I've never really needed as much sleep as some people, but this is ridiculous. I didn't go to sleep until three this morning, and I'm up at seven?'

Danny had wanted to get to know this place a little better, so he had used a pillow and some blankets to make it look like he was asleep in bed. Then he had wandered around invisible and intangible, trying to get a feel for the place. Later, he even had a chance to look through the bag his parents had sent along. 

'This place is really strange; I'm not sure what to make of it. Some of it is really dark, other parts are kinda dim, the feel of that one room was kind of restless, and one or two rooms are almost blinding.' 

Danny had stayed away from the really 'light' rooms, because they reminded him way too much of Dumbledore. 'Probably where he made a direct impression. Meaning if I go in there, he _will_ know.'

Danny was walking down the main hall to the kitchen, when he heard a loud crash. Turning back, he was about to see what it was, when a horrible screeching sound came up almost directly to his right, where curtains had just flown open. Danny barely remembered to grab his ecto-gun instead of simply firing off a blast.

A moment later, there was a kind of ringing silence, the kind that came when a loud noise suddenly stops. Looking at what he had ended up shooting, he saw what looked like some kind of hag, staring at the hole his blast had left near the edge of her painting.

Danny blinked, barely noticing when several adults rushed in. 'She's part of the painting. And she's staring at where I blasted it. Is the painting alive?'

Mrs. Black stared at the blasted hole. 'How did some child manage to put a hole in my painting? And with some kind of muggle device, no less. How humiliating!' Mrs. Black noticed the wizards and witches who had defiled her home, and swiftly pulled the curtains closed.

Finally, a pink-haired woman spoke. "Wotcher, Harry, how did you do that?"

Danny shook his head. "I'm not Harry, I'm Danny." He straightened from the automatic crouch he had fallen into, and turned to study the newcomers. Severus Snape was lurking in the shadows near the back of the small group. A grizzled man with a strange eye was keeping an eye on the dark man, while the pink-haired woman continued to stare at him.

Moody snorted. "Of course you're not Potter. Who are you, what are you doing here, and most of all how did you do _that_?" He jabbed a finger toward the curtains that once more hid Mrs. Black.

Danny sighed softly and rolled his eyes as he answered. "In order, I'm Danny Fenton, I'm here to catch up with school since I was supposed to be there from the beginning, and my parents tend to be really protective." He calmly put the ecto-gun away and turned toward the kitchen. Unfortunately, he wasn't the only one in there.

Danny stiffened when he came to the doorway and saw Dumbledore calmly sitting at the kitchen table, sipping tea. He also idly noted that Mrs. Weasley was bustling around. Dumbledore simply smiled. "Hello, Mr. Fenton. Did you come for breakfast?"

Danny growled. "I'd thought about it, but I think I must have lost my appetite. Imagine that." Stiffly, he turned and left, ignoring the two that he had not met yet, who were staring at him. Snape just rolled his eyes a bit, and walked in.

_(break)_

A few hours later, Snape sighed silently as he watched Danny. 'At least he's being discreet while he's gawking. There is that.' Without a word, he calmly led the way to Gringotts. "Dumbledore has decided to pay for your basic supplies out of the Hogwarts vault, but if you want any extras, such as a pet, you will have to exchange your own money."

Danny simply nodded silently when Snape glanced toward him, not bothering to look away from where he studied a nearby pet store. 'He knows I've never been here before, so he should excuse gawking. Thankfully that means I can get a better feel for this place.' 

Danny shook his head slightly and followed Snape without ever having to look at him. 'This guy is weird. I could probably keep up with him blindfolded. I mean, he's obviously annoyed about something, but there really isn't that much directed at me. It's like he's annoyed with me by habit, but really annoyed with whoever made him take me for supplies.'

Snape swept into the bank with Danny close behind, barely giving him a chance to glance at the doors. "Exchange your money and then wait for me right there." He pointed at a spot a few feet from the door. "I shouldn't take long." With that, he swept toward the nearest free goblin and was soon following another goblin down through the tunnels.

Danny shook his head in amusement and went over to the same goblin Snape had briefly talked to and quickly exchanged his money for some of the weird Wizarding currency. By the time Snape came back, Danny was at the spot that Snape had told him to go to, examining a Sickle. "Professor, what are these, anyway?" he asked calmly, not even bothering to look up.

Snape raised an eyebrow. The boy shouldn't have known it was him without looking, so how had he done that? "What you currently have is a Sickle. The gold coins are Galleons, and the bronze ones are Knuts. Seventeen Sickles to a Galleon, and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle."

"Thanks." Danny grimaced slightly. 'Gah. Too much math.'

From the bank, Snape led Danny to Ollivanders, deciding it made sense to take care of the thing that would likely take the most time first. 

Danny sighed silently as he followed the man. 'Sheesh. I wonder if his face would crack if he tried to smile. At least he doesn't hate me.' 

Once inside the old shop, Danny carefully looked around. 'Let's see, there's someone coming from right…there.' He looked over at a little-noticed point just as a man with wide eyes that reminded him of moons came out. 

Ollivander raised an eyebrow. "Ah, yes. Albus told me that there would be a student this year that is starting late. You must be the one." Danny gave him a wary look but simply nodded. "Well, let us find you a wand." He set a tape measure to measuring various parts of Danny while he went to choose some possibilities. 

Danny watched as the strange old man moved away and began pulling boxes off the shelves, seemingly at random. It wasn't easy to ignore the tape measure, but he knew it was harmless. After a few minutes, the man came back with an armful.

Ollivander smiled. "Stop." The tape measure fell to the floor. "All right, let's get started. Which is your wand arm?" Danny raised his right hand, not sure what to make of this guy. "Willow, unicorn hair, 10 inches." Danny hesitantly took the wand the man held out. "Go on, wave it."

Feeling more than a little foolish, Danny did as he was told. He felt something extremely strange that seemed to come from the wand itself just before the chair in the corner shattered. Danny stared and Ollivander snatched it from his hand. 

"Hmm. That's not right. Here. Ash, phoenix feather, 11 inches." 

Danny took the wand and waved it without prompting, but almost immediately dropped it with a pained hiss. "That thing burned me!" 

Ollivander calmly picked up the fallen wand while Snape snagged Danny's wrist to examine his hand. "Hmm. Light burns at worst. You were very quick letting go." He calmly reached into a pocket and found a small jar. When he started to apply it to Danny's hand, Danny pulled back slightly.

"What is that?" Danny asked warily. He had had to deal with the various things his parents invented, and he thought it better to be safe than sorry.

Snape raised an eyebrow at his caution. "It's a burn salve. It takes away any pain and helps the burn to heal faster." This time when he started to apply the stuff, Danny did not pull away. "You seem awfully trusting when you barely know me."

Danny shrugged and examined his hand. The redness was already mostly gone, and the burn itself hadn't been bad in the first place. "You haven't lied to me yet. I'll reserve judgment until then." With that, he gave Ollivander an expectant look. 

Ollivander smiled. "Well, obviously phoenix feathers are not for you. And with the way the unicorn hair reacted, that is probably not right either. Here. Oak, dragon heartstring, 13 inches."

Danny hesitantly took the wand, not wanting to get burned again. When he waved it, a large crack appeared in the desk. Ollivander shook his head and snatched it back. "Hmm. Not that one either." He grinned and turned back to the other choices. "It seems you will be a challenge, Mr. Fenton."

Danny simply sighed as he watched the man. 'This is going to take a while.' He calmly settled into a routine of simply accepting new wands and trying them. The first few were more of the 'dragon heartstring' ones, but soon Ollivander brought some of the stranger combinations. 

Finally, Ollivander stopped and studied Danny for a long moment. "Well, you've already tried both my usual wands and some of my more unusual. Perhaps it would be best to try my most unusual." He calmly turned and walked deeper into his shop, leaving Snape and Danny to simply watch after him.

Danny snorted softly. 'Wonder what he's going to try now.'

A few minutes later, Ollivander came out with a paler wand than most and simply handed it to Danny without a word. Danny was confused, but accepted the wand. Immediately, something 

told him this one was right. He waved it in the air and a stream of light blue and luminous green sparks came from it. 

Ollivander smiled. "I thought so. Though it is very strange." Danny silently gave him a questioning look, and Ollivander explained. "That wand is tea tree and thestral feather, 11 inches. A very strange combination."

Danny gave him a strange look. "How do you mean?" He noted how surprised Snape had been when Ollivander said what his wand was made of, but didn't give any sign that he had. 

Ollivander simply looked at him with those wide, moon-like eyes. "The tea tree has been used many times for healing. Used properly, it has no unpleasant effects, unlike many things out there. Thestrals, on the other hand, can only be seen by those who have seen death." Danny's eyes widened in surprise. "So you see, the wood is connected to life, but the core is connected with death. Very unusual." 

Ollivander abruptly turned to Snape to pay for the wand, but Danny was too preoccupied with his thoughts to hear the price. 'A core connected to death, but a wood connected to life. Weird, it's like it was made for me. Half alive and half dead.' 

A bitter smile crossed his face. 'Would I have gotten this wand before I had the accident? If I hadn't, would whichever one I had gotten not work for me after the accident? Or would I have even had the accident in the first place, if I was sent to this school? I'm beginning to see why Clockwork kept them from finding me when I was eleven. Like it or not, I _was_ needed in Amity Park.'

Danny calmly followed Snape out of the shop, only half aware of his surroundings. Of course, that was still plenty to keep up with the man. He looked up when they entered a shop that seemed to specialize in books. It didn't take long for them to find the books that Danny would need: all of the books from the earlier years, since the list for the sixth year books hadn't been sent yet.

Since Snape was in a mellow mood, he didn't object when Danny went into the pet store he'd noticed earlier. Snape simply gave a long-suffering sigh and waited by the door. 

Danny glanced toward him, but simply went deeper into the shop. He decided to check out the birds first. 'After all, I might be able to talk to them whenever I want, but there's no reason not to be able to send something without having to bother someone else.'

Looking at all the birds, Danny frowned. There were mostly owls, though there were also a fair assortment of others, including a couple crows. Unfortunately, none of them seemed quite right. Then he noticed another that wasn't exactly hiding, but it wasn't trying to be noticed either. 

Going over to the bird, Danny looked into the intelligent light brown eyes and opened the cage. "Hello." He gently held out his hand. "Mind if I pet you?" The hawk gave him a long, almost considering look before dipping its head slightly in assent. "Thank you." He gently began stroking the chest feathers of the bird, looking it in the eye the whole time. "What kind of bird are you, then? I'm guessing hawk, but beyond that I don't know."

Behind him, Danny heard a sudden voice, and froze as he barely kept himself from making any sudden moves that might startle the hawk. "Oh, he's a red-tailed hawk. I'm rather surprised he's letting you touch him, he's a very proud bird."

Danny slowly managed to un-tense enough to turn and look at the girl. "Ah, thanks. I just noticed that he was kind of out of the way, and thought I'd see if he'd mind some attention." 

Danny jerked ever-so-slightly when the bird suddenly came out of his cage and landed on Danny's narrow shoulder. He turned his head and raised an eyebrow. "Does that mean I've been chosen or something?" The bird merely rubbed its head against his cheek. 

The shop-girl, Jenny according to her name tag, gave him an amused look. "Looks like you have. Are you going to get him, then?"

Danny shrugged a bit. "Sure, why not. He seems like a pretty cool bird." Danny winced slightly when the bird had to dig its talons in for balance. Even so, the girl noticed it. 

Jenny smiled. "Here." She picked up a glove that had been left nearby and handed it to Danny. "Get him to step off onto this, so he doesn't savage your shoulder too much." 

Danny gratefully accepted the glove, put it on and held it in front of the hawk. Without hesitation, he stepped off onto the glove, for which Danny was grateful. "Thanks." When Jenny started to grab the cage the hawk had been in, Danny shook his head slightly. "No offense, but I'm not sure we'll need that. He seems happier out of it."

Jenny shrugged. "It doesn't matter. It's best to take it with you in case it's needed, but he doesn't have to be put in it." She also grabbed a few other materials on the way to the counter. "That'll be two Galleons."

Danny calmly handed over the money, though it was a bit difficult to get it out one-handed. "Here you go."

Since it only took a moment for Danny to pay for the bird, he soon returned to where Snape stood waiting. At the dark man's raised eyebrow, he frowned slightly in confusion. "What?"

Snape simply turned and let the way to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. "I had assumed you would have gotten an owl."

Danny gave him a strange look as he followed. "Why would I need an owl?"

Snape glanced at him. "They are used to send letters."

Danny shook his head. "A hawk can carry letters just as well as an owl. Besides, I doubt I'll send many."

Snape sneered slightly. "You are not going to send letters home, then? Your parents seemed rather overprotective to allow that."

Danny snorted softly. "You have no idea," he muttered. Louder, he said, "Why send something like a letter, which would take forever whether I sent it by owl or by regular mail, when I can talk to them whenever I want?" He calmly entered the store.

Snape raised an eyebrow at the boy's words, but didn't comment as he followed him into the store. Instead, he filed the words away to contemplate later.

Snape calmly spoke to the woman who came to see what they needed. "This is Daniel Fenton. He is new at Hogwarts and needs robes." 

Danny smiled slightly when he saw the looks given to his new hawk. "Don't mind him; I don't think he'll be too much of a bother." He paused for a moment as he considered his shoulder, 

where the hawk had perched before. "But would you mind reinforcing the shoulders of those robe things? I have a feeling that's going to be his favorite perch." 

Danny soon found himself being led once more, this time by the seamstress who began fitting him for robes, chattering something about how skinny he was. Danny smiled slightly, not in the least offended, and simply did as he was told. He idly noticed that they made the modifications he had asked for, even going so far as to reinforce the shoulders of his shirt. 

Once the seamstress was done, the hawk happily settled once more on Danny's shoulder, digging his talons in when Danny moved. Danny smiled at him as he went back to rejoin Snape. "That's a good perch for you now that I don't have to worry about finding holes in my shirt. Or my shoulder."

After the robes, they got Potions ingredients. Danny was very grateful for the shrinking charm that Snape demonstrated after they got everything. Along with the feather-light spell that the shopkeepers had on the bags, Danny was able to simply stash them in his pockets and leave his hands free.

They were in the Apothecary the longest, and when they came out, Danny had all the basic ingredients, though he had gotten more than the minimum requirement. When Snape asked, he simply shrugged. "Hermione told me that she could help me catch up on spells and such, but if I don't have enough ingredients, I can't practice some of the Potions things." 

Snape raised an eyebrow at that answer. "Have someone who knows what they are doing supervise you. Preferably Granger and _not_ that miserable Potter." Danny looked at him for a long moment until Snape simply asked. "What is it?"

Danny sighed and turned away. "Why do you hate Harry?" They were in the alley behind the Leaky Cauldron by now, so they had some privacy.

Snape scowled as he gave his usual answer. "Because he is a spoiled brat with no respect for others' property."

Danny's eyes hardened slightly. "Lie. Why do you hate him?"

Snape's scowl deepened and he glanced back to snap at Danny. Before he could, he looked in those eyes, and knew that Danny knew that he had lied. That was not why he hated Potter. "He's far too much like his father, perfectly happy to torment the Slytherins." 

Danny's eyes hardened further. "Another lie. I don't like being lied to, professor. Why?"

Snape finally snapped around and gave Danny a soul-searing glare that didn't even make him flinch noticeably. "Because I hate the fact that I am forced to save the life of the son of someone I hated and who hated me. He looks almost exactly like James, and it is far too much like repeatedly saving my enemies life," he hissed out angrily. "Are you happy, now, or are you going to call me a liar once more?"

Danny gave him a calm, neutral look. "No, professor, I won't. Are we supposed to return now?"

Snape blinked, startled out of his anger, but his own neutral mask soon descended over his features. "Of course. Hold onto my arm." Danny obediently did as he was told, and Snape apparated them to Grimmauld Place and soon walked into Number 12 itself.

While Snape quickly walked away to his room, Danny simply climbed the stairs and settled on his bed in the room he shared with Ron and Harry. The hawk looked around with intelligent brown eyes, taking in every detail. Danny smiled slightly. "You know, you need a name. I can't exactly keep calling you hawk or whatever all the time."

Sitting down on his bed, Danny settled against the headboard and let the hawk settle carefully on his arm. "Well, that girl in the shop said that you're a red-tail hawk." He considered the options for a long moment before suddenly laughing softly. "It's amazing what can stick with you. How about Tobias?"

The bird cocked its head slightly, and Danny smiled as he explained. "It's from a series of books I used to read, about a group of kids who could transform into animals because of alien technology. They had to fight this other group of aliens, which were parasites that invaded the brain and took over the bodies of all kinds of different alien species. 

"Unfortunately, there was a time limit. If you stayed more than two hours in any form, you were trapped forever. One of them, a guy named Tobias, was caught in a bad situation and forced to stay in his morph for more than two hours and was trapped." 

Danny smirked softly, still rhythmically stroking the bird's chest. "He ended up as a red-tailed hawk, and eventually took a hawk's life for good. He didn't have too much to miss in his old, human life, so it wasn't that big a deal." He sighed softly, never changing the movement of his hand. When he spoke again, it was in a lower tone than before. 

"Now that I think of it, Tobias reminds me a lot of myself. Admittedly, my home life is a hell of a lot better, but otherwise? The bullies at school targeted me enough times while I was there. And then, an accident changed my life, just like it did Tobias's. We're both caught between two worlds; the only difference is that I haven't had to give up my human life for something completely different. There's no time limit for me." There was an almost wistful tone in his voice as he spoke.

The hawk reached forward and gently nipped at his fingers with his beak. Danny smiled slightly and moved his hand up to stroke his head. "So what do you think of Tobias?" The hawk, Tobias, rubbed his head against Danny's hand in answer. Danny's smile widened. "I'll take that as a yes."

_(break)_

AN: Hope you enjoyed this chapter. It's a bit longer than the first few, but I don't think anyone's going to be too broken up by that. Surprisingly, I don't have too much to say. I'm probably going to have to the next chapter from scratch, so I don't know how long it'll be before I put it up. For those of you who follow Neko, I think I might be able to get another chapter up soon, but no guarentees.

Note: You know, it's amazing what kind of simple things you can overlook when you read through a chapter. Thanks to **Pillsy**, who let me know that I had put copper instead of bronze when Snape described the Knuts. I sat here kicking myself for a few minutes, because I made such a stupid mistake. Of course, then I read through the chapter and realized I put 'excepted' instead of 'accepted'. Another several minutes of kicking myself, but I fixed both. If you find anything else, please tell me.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I forgot one the first time around. Do you really think I have one now?

Edit: I've been meaning to do this ever since Michi G. gave me the corrections. Blah, RL is a pain sometimes... Anyway, if you've seen the first few chapters yet, you know the drill. Minor corrections made here.

_(break)_

Chapter 5

Hermione frowned. 'Where is he? I thought he understood that we should start catching him up as soon as possible!' Finally, she decided to look in the room he was sharing with Ron and Harry. 'He didn't seem like the type to stay in his room all the time, but it is possible. Haven't seen him anywhere else, anyway.'

Hermione peeked in the door and found Danny sitting on his bed, petting a beautiful hawk. "Oh! You got a bird, what's its name?"

Danny tensed slightly. Lost in thought, he hadn't realized Hermione was there until she spoke. He looked up and blinked, before registering the question. "Oh! Uh, right, name? Sorry." Having regained his composure a bit, Danny straightened and moved his arm so that Hermione got a good look at the bird. "Mione, this is Tobias. Tobias, this is Hermione."

Hermione blinked and smiled. "Hello, Tobias." She held out a hand, but didn't touch him, silently asking permission. After a moment, the hawk preened slightly and bumped against her hand. She started petting the bird, but spoke to Danny. "Obviously you've gotten back from shopping with Professor Snape. Did you get everything you needed?"

Danny nodded. "Yeah, I now have a wand, robes, books for the first five years, and all the parchment and quills I could ask for." He rolled his eyes. "Seriously, if I ever let Tucker know about the way wizards and witches do things, I'd better bring earplugs." 

Hermione frowned. "Why would you need earplugs?" 

Danny stared at the ceiling for a moment. "How should I put this…? Have you ever known someone who pretty much lived for technology?" Hermione frowned slightly and shook her head. "Well, Tucker's worst fear is being totally without technology, especially his PDA, and being forced to use, get this, _pencil and paper!_" He said the last part in a low, dramatic tone that made Hermione laugh. 

"His worst fear is being forced to use pencil and paper? I can see why you'd need earplugs," she said after her laughter calmed. Then she frowned, which Danny didn't notice since he had turned briefly away. "Why did you call me 'Mione'?"

Danny froze as he realized that he had. "Ah, well, Ron called you that before, and so did Harry. I guess I didn't think about it." Danny winced, wondering if she'd get annoyed at him. 

Hermione frowned. 'I guess that makes sense, but why did he freeze up?' Out loud, she spoke. "I don't mind, it's just I didn't expect you to call me that. It's mostly just Ron and Harry." 'He probably just thought it was something I'd get annoyed with him about,' she thought, dismissing her earlier thought.

Danny relaxed slightly. "Yeah, sorry about that. I just kind of assumed, since my girlfriend's name is Samantha, but nearly everybody calls her Sam." He winced slightly. "Those who don't usually get introduced to her boots."

Hermione smiled slightly, hoping for a way to get him to calm down. "What do you mean, 'her boots'? Does she wear them all the time?"

Danny smiled. "Sam's a Goth, so she goes for all the really dark clothes, and she nearly always wears combat boots." Then he winced. "Of course, having super-cheery parents who seem to live in the fifties would probably make anybody want to rebel."

Hermione tilted her head. "Super cheery _and_ still in the fifties? I think I can understand going Goth."

Danny laughed. "Every now and then you'll run across Sam hiding somewhere or other because her mom wants her to try on some super frilly, extremely pink monster of a dress."

Hermione imagined her view of a typical Goth, and then tried to put her mental Goth in an incredibly frilly pink monstrosity of a dress. She literally fell off the bed laughing.

Tobias fluttered off Danny's arm and onto the headboard of the bed when Danny suddenly moved to lean over the edge of the bed. Hermione was flat on her back and still laughing. "Are you okay? What's so funny?"

Hermione held her stomach and forced herself to stop laughing. "I imagined a Goth. Then I put her in a huge pink dress," she replied with an extremely straight face. "Then I imagined the look on her face." Hermione managed to sit up, giggles still escaping her. 

Danny grinned and sat back up, but before he could say anything, they both heard an angry hiss from the door. Danny looked up in time to see a certain male redhead walking away. "Oh, lovely. I managed to piss off the jealous redhead."

Hermione frowned slightly. "'Jealous redhead'? You mean Ron?"

Danny nodded slightly. "Yep, that'd be him. I better go straighten things out before he decides to come back and try to deck me." He was already at the door before Hermione could say anything. "And you might want to wait a while before you hunt him down. I don't feel like listening to a screaming match." He was gone before she could reply.

Hermione rolled her eyes and went to the doorway, but Danny was already gone. Unknown to her, it would be the first of many similar situations.

Danny frowned as he followed where Ron had stomped off to. Eventually he came to the library, where poor Harry was being ranted at by Ron. Harry was obviously getting rather annoyed. 

Ron stormed back and forth, waving his arms in emphasis. "She was laughing, and he was watching her, and he probably asked her out by now!" 

Danny rolled his eyes. "You know, if you just asked her out yourself, you'd probably stop getting so jealous."

Ron stiffened and whirled toward him, while Harry gave Danny a grateful look from behind the redhead. "You! What are you doing here?"

Danny rolled his eyes. "Well, for the summer at least I'm going to be living here and working on getting caught up to everybody else in school. For the moment, I thought I'd head things off before you started a fight." He didn't add the last part of that thought. 'One that you can't win; only you don't know it yet.'

Ron growled angrily. "That's not what I meant, and you know it." 

Danny rolled his eyes. "You're trying to start a fight, and I don't feel like fighting right now. If you'd wait five seconds, I could tell you that you have absolutely nothing to worry about." He dug his wallet out of his pocket, ignoring the startled look on Ron's face as he found what he was looking for. "I have a girlfriend, thanks." 

Danny held something out to Ron, who had been shocked out of his anger enough to look. It was a picture showing Danny with his arms wrapped around a dark-haired girl. It looked like he was in the middle of picking her up from behind. There was a mischievous look on Danny's face, and a laughing, surprised look on the girl's face. 

Finally, Ron handed back the picture. "Who's she?"

Danny smiled. "That is my girlfriend Sam. Like I said, you don't have anything to worry about." He smirked slightly and held the picture out to a curious Harry. He had come to get a good look at what had made Ron's anger stop in its tracks.

Harry smiled slightly. "Who took the picture?" he asked curiously.

Danny rolled his eyes. "Tech-lover Tucker. He is never without some kind of technology, usually his PDA, and he used something or other to take the picture. I can't remember what it was."

Just then, Hermione stormed in. "Ron would you stop getting jealous of every guy I happen to talk to? It's getting really old!"

Danny glanced between the two, and an extremely mischievous look crossed his face. "Oh, don't worry, Mione! He was just going to ask you out. Guess he lost his nerve for a moment."

Harry stared with wide eyes as Hermione and Ron both sputtered, stopped in their tracks and extremely embarrassed. Danny had a satisfied look on his face and calmly plucked the photo from Harry's grasp before silently leaving. Harry quickly followed, unnoticed by his two friends.

It didn't take long for Harry to catch up, since Danny wasn't trying to escape. "How did you do that? I've been trying to do something like that ever since Ron first realized he liked her! Hell, before then when he just got jealous and didn't realize why!"

Danny just shrugged. "I didn't feel like having to deal with them fighting or whatever, and that was the quickest way to shut 'em both up."

Harry frowned and glanced back toward the library. "Yeah, that explains why, but how—" He stopped and looked around when he realized Danny was gone. "Where did he go?"

Danny grinned as he slipped away invisibly; glad not to have to answer the question. 'I'm just happy I won't have to deal with them when they're fighting. It'll make life a hell of a lot easier if Hermione isn't pissed off while she's tutoring me.' 

Glancing back at Harry—who was looking all over and was even waving his arms around, trying to touch him if he was merely invisible—his grin widened even as he turned intangible to let Harry's arm go through him. 'This is going to be fun.'

_(break)_

By the time Hermione was once more willing to seek Danny out so she could see about teaching him, several hours had passed. She had been incredibly embarrassed and then annoyed by the trick he had pulled, though she did have to admit that it was nice to not be angry at Ron for being an idiot. 

Poking around, Hermione frowned. 'He's not in the library. I've checked their room, and his hawk was gone, but that's not surprising. I've looked everywhere I could think of inside, and I even tried outside, but I haven't seen him.' 

Sighing, Hermione decided to get some help. It didn't take her long to find Ron and Harry. Evidently Ron had challenged Harry to chess once more. "Guys, have you seen Danny? I wanted to talk to him about when we could teach him the earlier stuff, but I can't find him anywhere."

Harry frowned. "Well, where did you check?"

Hermione flopped down on a nearby chair in annoyance. "Everywhere inside I could reach or thought he might have gone. I even looked out the windows, but I didn't see him on the roof or anywhere in view on the grounds, and I poked around outside for a while."

Ron stared. "Why would he be on the roof?"

Hermione blushed. "I don't know, I was getting desperate by then and couldn't think of anywhere else he could be." She gave them both hopeful looks. "Could you help me?" Harry was quick to agree, not feeling like getting his butt kicked at chess _again_. Ron just shrugged; he had nothing better to do if Harry wasn't around to get beaten at chess.

The three of them quickly decided to search the house, just in case Danny had come in since Hermione searched there. When that turned up nothing, they went outside to search. An hour and a half after they started and none of them had any idea where the elusive boy could be.

All three flopped under a tree. Ron was the first to speak. "Bloody hell, where could he have gotten to? We searched everywhere!"

Hermione scowled, too annoyed to yell at Ron for swearing. "I don't know, but I'm going to find out when we finally find him!"

Harry sighed. "Where could he be? We've searched inside, outside, and I even flew around the house to check the roofs." Before he could go on, an amused voice spoke above them. 

"Did you try looking up?" The trio craned their heads back and stared straight into a pair of blue eyes which were sparkling with mischief. "This is funny. I watched Hermione looking for me, and I watched all three of you looking, and none of you thought to look up a tree!"

Hermione screamed in frustration and scrambled to her feet before literally lunging for the tree. Ron and Harry barely managed to grab her in time. "You were watching us the whole time! Why didn't you say anything?"

Danny stared at her for a moment before quickly climbing to a higher branch when he saw that Harry and Ron were thinking of letting go. "Geez, I thought it was funny! If you'd just said something, I would have answered. I didn't know it was that important to you!"

Hermione suddenly froze, and Harry and Ron relaxed ever so slightly when it looked like Hermione was done trying to kill Danny. "Um, Mione? You okay?" Harry asked cautiously. Quite suddenly, Hermione twisted out of their grasp and once more lunged at Danny. 

This time, Harry and Ron weren't able to get a grip on her, and Danny did the only thing he could think of. Scrambling around to the other side of the tree, he jumped out and rolled a bit before taking off running as fast as he could, Hermione on his heels.

Harry and Ron were left to simply stare. "Bloody hell, he's fast!" Ron said in slight awe. 

Harry nodded agreement. "Think it'll be enough?" He winced when Danny zigzagged as Hermione tried to tackle him and he almost ended up in an overgrown rose bush.

Ron shook his head. "I don't know, mate. I think she might be too pissed off." By now, Hermione had scrambled up and was once more running after Danny, who waited until she was almost in reach before braking as well as he could before turning to run back in the house once Hermione barreled past.

Danny panted as he ran into the house, hoping for somebody, anybody. Hell, he'd accept help from _Dumbledore_ if it calmed Hermione down. He didn't want to risk using his powers at the moment, since Hermione was too focused on running him down. It would be far too easy for her to catch him turning invisible or sinking through a wall or the floor.

Too focused on running and glancing behind him to make sure Hermione hadn't caught up, Danny barely noticed Remus Lupin before he hit the man. Even so, he managed to redirect himself slightly so he didn't hit him directly.

Remus hit a wall, and managed to grab onto the corner to keep from going down. Danny wasn't quite so lucky. He glanced off a different wall, hit a doorjamb, and ended up sprawled on his back, staring at the ceiling. 

Hermione rushed in just in time to see Danny sitting up, covering half his face with one hand. He also had several scratches on his arm. Hermione stared, opened mouthed for a long moment. She barely noticed Remus moving to help Danny up or Harry and Ron pounding in behind her. 

Harry was the first to find his voice. "What happened?" He didn't add that it looked like Hermione had punched Danny in the face.

Remus shook his head slightly. "I don't know. I just got here for the end part. Let me see your arm." He directed the last bit at Danny who rolled his visible eye slightly before moving his hand and letting Remus look at his arm, revealing what would soon be an impressive bruise covering half his face. 

Danny sighed and winced slightly at the same time. "I almost ran into Mr. Lupin, but when I tried to change direction, I hit a wall. Of course, I managed to hit the doorway on my way down." He motioned to his face, which was already darkening slightly. 

Remus smiled slightly. "Just Remus, thanks. How did you scratch your arm like this? It's obvious it was there before you hit the wall."

Danny winced and muttered something about 'vicious shrubs'. "There's a frickin' huge rosebush out back. I got a little too near it and got scratched by the thorns." He paused for a moment. "How did you know I got it before I hit the wall?"

Remus hmmed slightly as he considered the scratches. "Well for one, there's a thorn still in it."

Danny blinked and twisted his arm around to study the wound. "Great." Turning, he grumbled and walked towards the stairs, holding his arm to keep from bleeding too much more. The other four exchanged glances and quickly followed. 

It didn't take Danny long to find a bathroom. Once he had cleaned his arm and managed to get the thorns—three of them, that really was a vicious bush—out of his arm, he looked for something to bandage it with. Just then, the others caught up. Danny didn't even look up. "I don't suppose you know where there're some bandages, do you?"

Remus blinked and conjured some for him. "You act like you do this a lot," he commented when Danny only took a moment to wrap his arm.

Danny shrugged slightly as he used the mirror to study the bruise covering the right half of his face. "I'm a klutz; anybody who knows me could tell you that. I just figure it's easier for me to deal with what I can handle instead of having to get help for every little scratch and bruise." He paused suddenly and gave Hermione a wary look. "I'm not going to have to run for my life again, am I?"

Hermione blushed brightly, but before she could answer, Ron did. "Well, mate, if you don't tease her like that again, you'll probably be fine."

Danny frowned slightly. "Huh?"

Harry decided to put his two cents in. "Let's just say one time in first year we were out after hours, were nearly caught by the nasty caretaker at school, and managed to stumble onto a huge three-headed dog. We got back to the tower, and Mione said something like 'We could have all been killed! Or worse, expelled!'"

Danny laughed. "Alright, I'll try to keep from teasing you about learning." Hermione simply blushed and didn't answer. Danny calmly walked past them and went up to the room he was sharing with Harry and Ron. "So when do you want to start the tutoring?"

_(break)_

Nearly an hour after his ill-chosen words, Danny was crouched on the roof, having scrambled out the window and around until he was out of sight of anyone looking out the window. 'Yeesh, that was scary.'

Finally deciding that Hermione probably wouldn't be able to find him for a while, he pulled the small backpack he had been wearing when he went out the window off his back and pulled out a black and green laptop. He plugged in the headphones, so he didn't have to worry about being overheard, and signed on. Some minutes later, Sam did as well. 

Sam blinked. "Danny? How'd you get on a computer, and what happened to your face?"

Danny smiled. "Well, you remember that bag my parents sent along without telling me what was in it?" He waited until she nodded. "It has a lot of useful ghost-hunting tech and a computer. I think dad adapted it to run on ectoplasm."

Sam smiled. "Yeah, that sounds like your dad. But what happened to your face?"

Danny reached up and rubbed the side of his face, which was already darkening into an impressive bruise. "I had a fight with a doorjamb, and the doorjamb won." He noticed Sam's look and decided he better explain before she found a way to track him down just to kick him. 

"There's a bunch of adults plus two guys and a girl about our age. I guess they're supposed to tutor me over the summer. Hermione, the girl, seems very learning-crazy, and she didn't take well to me teasing her." 

Sam raised an eyebrow. "Little more detail here. Did she push you into a doorway or something?"

Danny smirked. "Not quite. I teased her and this guy who she obviously likes and embarrassed them both so badly neither noticed when I left. She finally decided to track me down a few hours later, but I didn't feel like making it easy for her."

Sam rolled her eyes as she started to realize where this was going. "So you hid out until she gave up and then teased her about it?"

Danny grinned sheepishly. "More like she went for help from Ron and Harry, her two friends, and they helped her look. Finally they gave up and I went up the tree they were under and said something like if she'd wanted to find me so bad she could have just said something. I would have come out."

Sam raised an eyebrow and leaned slightly to one side to look past him. "Is that how you ended up on a roof?"

Danny shook his head. "No, she chased me around the yard, I nearly fell into a huge rosebush, and then I turned and ran inside after I managed to make her run past me. Unfortunately, I almost ran into Mr. Lupin, one of the adults. He hit a wall and managed to keep from falling, but I bounced off another wall and met a doorway with my face leading."

Sam winced. "Ouch. Any other injuries?" 

Danny winced slightly as well. "'Member the rosebush? Well, it left a few presents in my arm." He held up his arm so she could see the bandages wrapped around it. "I had to turn my arm intangible to get rid of the thorns; I couldn't seem to get a good grip on them."

Sam nodded. "So how does all this end up with you on the roof?"

Danny huddled in on himself slightly. "I asked when she wanted to start tutoring. She went ballistic, and since she was right behind me I climbed out a window. I just hope she doesn't think to look on the roof for me."

_(break)_

Downstairs, Hermione was finally starting to calm down. Ron and Harry were practically walking on eggshells around her, and Danny had once more vanished.

Harry cautiously asked her. "Okay, do you have any idea where he might have gone this time?"

Hermione smiled slightly and shook her head. "No, Harry. And calm down, I'm not going to bite your head off."

Harry just nodded and decided to ignore that for the moment. "So where did you lose him?"

Hermione sighed. "Upstairs. He turned around a corner or something, and when I followed him he was gone."

Ron tilted his head. "Were there any rooms nearby?"

Hermione considered. "Yeah, actually. It was your room. I didn't think anything of it, but the window was open."

Harry frowned. "Why didn't you think anything of it?" 

Hermione shrugged. "Well, he has a hawk now. The window was open earlier so I figured he just opened it so that Tobias would be able to come and go." 

Harry sighed. "I'll go look for him. I doubt he'd do anything but hide if you tried right now." Hermione winced but nodded in agreement.

They all trooped upstairs and Harry climbed out the window of their room and onto the roof. Looking around, he started off to the left, more by deciding that it looked like it might be easier to climb around to a hidden spot over there than because he thought Danny was there.

Danny looked up as he heard footsteps and quickly said bye to Sam before shutting his laptop down and putting it away in his bag. Once his bag was on his back, he carefully began to scramble even farther along the roof. 

Harry frowned as he caught a flicker of movement. "Danny?" The movement abruptly stopped, and he continued toward the source. "Mione's calmed down, she's not wanting to kill you anymore. It's safe to come in."

Danny carefully considered. On the one hand, he could scramble away and force Harry to follow, or he could take his word for it. "You sure she isn't going to kill me for opening my mouth anymore?"

Harry smiled slightly. "No, she won't try to kill you. And I think she said that she wants to start tutoring you tomorrow."

Danny decided that that was as good as he was going to get and calmly scrambled back toward the other black-haired boy. "Well, as long as you're sure."

Harry grinned and turned to lead the way back to the window where Ron and Hermione were waiting for them to come in. "Don't worry; if Mione wanted to kill you she wouldn't try to hide it."

Danny rolled his eyes and answered with an extremely sarcastic, "Gee, thanks." He ignored Harry's laughter.

_(break)_

AN: Okay, when will the page breaks most people use start working again, because it's getting rather annoying to try and figure out what I can use. Besides, the dashes look weird.

Anyway, sorry to leave it so long before updating, but I have issues with this chapter. I don't really like the part from where Ron comes and becomes jealous until the part just before Hermione storms in, but I couldn't think of anything better. Besides that, I wanted a decently sized chapter. It is just over seven pages at the moment. Hopefully the next chapter will be up sooner, and I won't have _issues_ with it. Hope you like, and please review!


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Think of your own, I'm busy.

Edit: Corrections, corrections, corrections! Yay! You know the drill, thank Michi G. for everything. Minor correction in this one.

_(break)_

Chapter 6

The next morning, Hermione decided to go over the simplest spells for Danny. He turned out to be a quick study, and she was extremely impressed. The only problem she had was that he always kept a direct route to the nearest exit as open as possible, just in case. That and he was practically walking on eggshells with her. Finally she got tired of it. "Would you stop that!" 

Danny rolled over the back of the couch he was sitting on and crouched behind it, ready to take off at a moment's notice. "I thought we went over this yesterday," he said calmly, belying the tense set of his body. 

Hermione sighed. "All right. It's just that you being tense is making _me_ tense." She shook herself slightly. "Anyway, this one is pronounced win-GAR-dium levi-O-sa. Remember the accents or it won't work."

Danny sighed and calmly resettled back into his seat across from Hermione as if nothing had happened. Harry and Ron were snickering in the corner. They were watching and occasionally helping and/or hindering the teaching process.

Danny calmly spoke the spell as Hermione had explained it, and was soon floating a feather around the room. "This is really easy. What else can you float like this?"

Hermione smirked. "Well, Ron once used it to take a troll's club and dropped it on its head when it wasn't looking."

Danny stopped what he was doing and turned to look at Ron, who was blushing slightly. "You're joking."

Harry shook his head. "Nope. A teacher working for Voldemort let it in as a distraction. He wanted something called the Sorcerer's Stone."

Danny cocked his head. "Isn't that some legend about a stone that could turn lead to gold and grant immortality?"

Hermione nodded. "Yes, something like that." She was about to go on, but Danny absently interrupted her. 

"Who's Volde-whatsit anyway?" Danny asked, idly setting the feather down and floating a small table instead. The trio barely noticed, too surprised by his words. 

Finally, Harry found his voice. "Hasn't anyone told you about him? And it's Voldemort."

Danny sighed. "If they had, would I ask?"

Ron hesitantly spoke. "Well, You-Know-Who—that's what most people call him—is this really evil wizard who killed lots of people years ago. Everybody was so afraid of him, since they couldn't seem to do anything, he was too powerful." 

Harry took up the tale. "Then one night, he came after my parents when I was only a year old. He killed both of them, but when he tried to use the killing curse on me, it backfired on him. I was left with this scar." He pulled his bangs back to let Danny see it. "He was nothing more than a wandering spirit for years, until Quirrel, our first year professor, ended up being his host."

Danny very slowly put the table back down where he had pulled it from before. "Are you saying that he wandered around as a spirit for 10 years before finding a human host?" They nodded, and he winced. "Shit. Evil_and_ insane. What a combination. Then what?"

The three of them told him all about their first year, since it really wasn't a secret anyway. Then they told him about second, third, and finally fourth year. 

Danny held up a hand to stop the flow of information after the fourth year. "Okay, so first was when you first met—and fought—him, second year was when you found out he sealed part of himself into his diary, third you found out about your godfather, and fourth was that weird tournament where he finally got his body back?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah, that's about right." 

Danny whistled softly. "Harry, I don't whether you're incredibly dumb, brave, or both." He held up a hand when Harry started to protest. "Nuh-uh, listen to me. According to what you've told me you've gone up against him like four times—"

"Five," Harry interrupted quietly. "We haven't gotten to last year yet."

Danny shrugged. "Okay, five. You've gone up against this guy five times, and three of them he was almost guaranteed insane."

Hermione frowned. "Why do you say that? You said that he was insane when we told you about first year."

Danny sat back and rubbed his eyes. "Okay, imagine this. You're incredibly feared for years, before suddenly being turned into nothing more than a weak, wandering spirit that nobody even knows exists for ten years. All because you tried to kill a baby. Then you spend four or five more being beaten by the kid that defeated you when he was just a baby."

They considered this for a long moment, and then winced almost in unison. Harry nodded. "Yeah, I think I understand. Never thought about it that way, but it really makes sense."

Shaking his head slightly, Harry decided that Danny should probably know some of what happened in his fifth year. He winced slightly when he thought of his behavior at some points, but simply kept talking. 

Ron and Hermione mostly just let Harry do the talking, though they did chime in on certain details. At the end of it, Harry felt slightly empty, but better about finally telling the whole story to a fairly impartial listener.

When Harry was finally done speaking, Danny sat back for a long moment and thought about all he had been told. When he finally spoke, it was on a different subject than they might have expected. "What was that 'Veil' thing?"

The trio looked at each other for a long moment before Hermione spoke up. "Well, there isn't really much known about it. It's an archway with a kind of ragged curtain covering the opening. Nobody knows where it goes, but anything that goes through is never found again."

Danny frowned at that. "Weird. I wonder what it's supposed to do, then."

The others simply shrugged, not knowing any more than he did about it.

Hermione shook herself slightly, wanting to get rid of bad memories, and once more launched into her tutoring.

_(break)_

Some weeks after that incident, Hermione decided to classify how far Danny had gotten already. "Let's see, you can do most of the third year Charms, you're almost caught up on Potions, and you're already in fourth year for Transfigurations." 

Danny smiled. For whatever reason, Potions were easy for him. Of course, it might have something to do with the fact that he was the only one at home who could cook a decent meal. Jazz was good if she had a recipe, though. 

Transfiguration was also fairly simple, though not as easy as potions. Once he grasped the fact that he was basically just changing one thing into another, it had been easy. After all, he had been doing something similar for two years now. 

"You're also almost caught up in DADA, thanks to Harry." Harry blushed slightly, but didn't say anything. Hermione considered for a long moment. "We haven't really bothered with History of Magic, for obvious reasons." 

Danny winced as he remembered what he'd been told. A ghost taught that class, and nearly everybody fell asleep. Going over the book, he hadn't been too surprised, since he found himself starting to fall asleep just from that. 

"You've already proven that you neither want nor need tutoring in Astronomy." Danny grinned a bit sheepishly. Hermione had challenged his knowledge, and he proved without a doubt that he knew more than even her in Astronomy. She had been a bit miffed at that.

"Hagrid has been around, so between him, the book, and tutoring you're pretty much caught up in Care of Magical Creatures. You never did explain why you reacted to him like that, by the way. And finally, you've managed to learn a bit of Ancient Runes." She seemed a bit surprised by that one. 

Danny simply shrugged. "Well, at least I don't have to learn to speak the languages. Reading and writing them are hard enough."

"We haven't done too much in Herbology," she ignored the face Danny made at that, "so we probably should work on it." 

Harry cut in. "Come on, Hermione we've been doing nothing but homework for nearly five weeks now. We all need a break, and we haven't taught him flying yet, either." 

Danny perked up slightly. He had seen Harry and Ron on their brooms, and wanted a chance to try this way of flying. He hadn't been able to really stretch out and fly very much since he had arrived. Hermione tended to keep track of him as much as she could, despite Danny disappearing on her whenever _he_ could. He didn't want her to question it any more than she already did, after all.

Hermione sighed. "Alright. Do you have a broom he can use?"

Ron grinned. "He can use mine. It's not as fast as Harry's, but it's still a good broom." Turning slightly, he added, "I hope you don't mind, Danny." Frowning he looked around. "Where'd he go?"

Hermione and Harry frowned and also looked around. Danny was nowhere to be seen. Hermione growled in frustration. "How does he do that? I've looked for every spell I can think of that 

would let someone disappear like he does, but I can't find him! And even if there was a spell, how would he know it!"

Harry bit his lip to hide a smile. "Well, he's been watching us flying, maybe he went outside?" 

Ron nodded agreement. "Yeah, you haven't seen him. Sometimes we notice him on the roof or in a tree, and he looks like he'd really like to be in the air."

Hermione sighed. "Come on. Go get your brooms, I'll go outside and see if he's there." When Hermione stepped outside, she looked around but couldn't seem to find Danny. "Where could he have gotten to now?" she muttered in annoyance. 

"Who are you looking for?" Danny carefully hid his grin as he watched Hermione shriek and spin around. 

Hermione stared at him, seeing by the way he tried to look innocent that he had done that on purpose. "Where did you come from!"

Danny raised an eyebrow, seeming to be mocking somebody. "Are you sure you were really looking? I was leaning against the wall over there." He pointed to a spot that had a shadow cast across it from the way the house was set up. In fact, he hadn't even had to go even partially invisible to hide in it. 

Hermione looked to where he pointed, and then turned on him. "Well, how was I supposed to know that? You wear really dark clothes all the time, I probably wouldn't have seen you if I _had_ known!"

Danny grinned, giving her that point. "Whatever. Where are Harry and Ron?"

Hermione blinked as she realized that Danny was bouncing slightly on his toes. "They went to get their brooms." Grinning, she relaxed slightly. "You really want to learn to fly, don't you?"

Danny grinned, unashamed by his enthusiasm. "I've always liked the idea of flying. It's part of why I've wanted to be an astronaut since I was a kid." He didn't add that he hadn't flown much in over a month, and he was starting to go stir-crazy. He only managed to get out after everyone else was asleep, and not always then.

Hermione blinked. She hadn't known that. 'Though I suppose it explains why he knows so much about Astronomy.' Just then, Harry and Ron swooped down to begin the flying lesson. 

Danny happily accepted Ron's broom, and once they had explained everything, he quickly had the thing laid out beside him on the grass. With a forceful "Up!" it came to his hand. 

Harry grinned at his enthusiasm, and noted that in no time at all, Danny was in the air beside him. "Looks like you're a natural at this. Why don't you try to do some things?" The words had barely left his mouth before Danny was putting the broom through its paces. 

Danny grinned as he flew upside down for several seconds, flying a loop and then a corkscrew. He went straight up, and then plunged down.

Below, the three were staring. Finally, Harry spoke. "He's definitely a natural."

Hermione nodded, wincing slightly when Danny climbed almost vertically, and then went into a steep dive. "He doesn't seem the least bit afraid of falling, either."

Ron nodded. "I know; it's like he belongs up there." 

Harry grinned. "Think he'll play Quidditch?" 

Danny plunged by in time to hear his words, and grinned. Coming back around, he called, "Sure, sounds like fun!"

_(break)_

The next morning, Danny was curled up in his bed, unaware that he had slept later than normal, and it was almost nine. Flying yesterday had really keyed him up, and he had barely been convinced to come down for supper. Afterwards, he had disappeared before Hermione could go into tutoring again, and went to the roof, where he spoke to Tobias. 

Making a brief appearance around midnight, Danny had pretended to go to bed. Once he was sure that both Harry and Ron were asleep, he had gone out again, and transformed to fly on his own power. 

He had finally gone to bed at about four, which was about normal for him. It tended to drive Jazz nuts when he stayed up so late, but he simply saw no reason to go to bed earlier. If he did, he simply woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't go back to sleep. Today was an exception, but his sleep wouldn't be undisturbed for much longer.

Ron grumbled as he clomped back upstairs. His mum had wanted him to go get Danny, since he wasn't awake yet, and refused to give him breakfast until he did. Hermione wanted to get some more tutoring in today, so she also wanted the guy out of bed. Still grumbling, he stalked over and kicked the bed. 

Danny subconsciously registered the jolt of his bed, and his hand closed around the ecto-gun he had under his pillow and he was physically more awake, though he didn't show it. He needed to know if that was an attack or not. 

Ron scowled when the kick seemed to get no response. "Danny, wake up!" he exclaimed loudly and came around to shake the boy. He was barely in reach when he felt something hard and metallic pressed against his chest, and something told him to be very, very still. 

Danny considered the redhead at the other end of his ecto-gun. His brain wasn't really awake just yet, but something told him the redhead was familiar. He tilted his head, never moving his hand, which held the ecto-gun positioned against the redhead's breastbone. 'He's not Tucker and definitely not family, only mom and Jazz have red hair. Familiar, is he friendly?' 

Finally deciding, Danny lowered the gun and tucked it back under his pillow before getting up and moving past the still-stunned redhead. Stretching in a way that made many people wince, he calmly moved to get dressed, making sure an ecto-gun and his collapsed staff was in his pocket before he calmly turned and left, ignoring the redhead.

Ron had moved to back up against the wall when Danny got up, and was staring after the other male in a kind of shock. 'What the hell was that! He didn't even recognize me!'

Danny went down to the kitchen, barely noticing that he wasn't at home. Going into the kitchen, he found that someone had made coffee and left it on the counter. Sniffing it lightly to make sure there was nothing in it, he sat at the table and began to drink. He ignored the fact that there were three others in the room at the moment. If they didn't bother him, he saw no reason to acknowledge them.

Mrs. Weasley stared at the boy. While he sometimes had some coffee in the morning, Danny usually at least said 'good morning' to whoever happened to be in the kitchen. She frowned slightly and set a plate of breakfast in front of him. "Still too thin. And why are you being rude this morning? You haven't said a word to anyone! And where's Ron, I sent him up to get you, I'd think he'd be back for his breakfast by now."

Danny ignored the redheaded woman's words, but happily dug into the food she gave him once he made sure she hadn't added anything to it that shouldn't be there. He likewise ignored the presence of two others about his age. Unknown to any of them, Danny was currently acting on a kind of auto-pilot.

Hermione frowned. "Danny? Why aren't you talking to anyone?" When she got no response, she started to reach over and shake him to get his attention. She barely got within a foot of him before there was something only somewhat familiar pointed straight at her. 

Danny continued eating one-handed as he tilted his head to study the girl who had reached toward him. She had frozen at the sight of his ecto-gun, and was now slowly lowering her hand. Deciding she was no threat, put the gun away again. Once he was done eating his food and drinking his coffee, Danny calmly put the dishes in the sink and went upstairs once more. 

Only after Danny had left did Hermione finally start to relax. Harry, who had decided it was probably best if he did nothing, finally spoke. "Mione? You okay?"

Hermione glanced at him and took a deep breath before answering. "Yes, Harry, I'm fine." Turning slightly, she asked. "Mrs. Weasley, what was wrong with him? He didn't even seem to recognize any of us!"

Just then, Ron pelted down the stairs. "Mum! He's acting weird!"

Mrs. Weasley sighed. "If you're talking about Danny, we know. He came down and ate breakfast, but he didn't seem to recognize any of us."

Hermione nodded. "He even pulled a gun on me when I tried to touch his shoulder!"

Harry considered the spooked Ron, and finally asked. "What happened to you?"

Ron shivered slightly. "I went up to wake him up like mum told me to. He didn't seem to notice when I kicked the bed, but when I yelled at him and went to shake him, he pulled one of his weird weapons on me." He sank down into a chair and gave his mother a grateful smile when she set a plate of food in front of him. 

"He just lay there for a minute with that thing against my chest, as if wondering if he should shoot me or not. Then he put it back under his pillow and got up, got dressed and left. Then a few minutes ago, he came in, and gave me this look like 'Why are you still here?' Then he just kind of went back to bed and went to sleep." That said Ron began to dig into his food. 

Harry sighed softly. "Guess we'll have to wait until he wakes up to ask him. I don't fancy the idea of nearly getting shot just because we tried to wake him."

_(break)_

When Danny finally woke up—fully awake, not just on auto-pilot—he blinked as he realized he was fully dressed. It took a moment before he remembered what had happened earlier. Then he almost wanted to dive back under his pillow and stay there. 'Great. I nearly shot Ron and Hermione. This is going to take some explanation.' 

Sighing, Danny looked around for his watch for a long moment, but couldn't find it. Then he frowned in annoyance, and reached for his wand. 'Let's see, what was that spell?' "Oh, right. _Tempus._" Looking at the time, he blinked when he realized that it was almost one in the afternoon. 'Weird, I must have been more tired than I thought. Auto-pilot _and_ sleeping, um…nine hours? Yeesh, I haven't slept so long in a while!'

Making his way downstairs, Danny concentrated for a moment before zeroing in on Harry. Figuring the others would either be with Harry, or Harry would know where they were, he went there. 

Harry, Ron, and Hermione all looked up when Danny walked into the room and looked around. Harry, as the only one who _hadn't_ almost been shot, spoke up first. "Danny? Is something wrong?"

Danny blinked. "Er, no, not that I know of." He rubbed the back of his head a bit sheepishly. "I just thought I'd better apologize."

Hermione cautiously spoke up. "Well, could you tell us what happened? You've been asleep for hours."

Danny winced slightly. "Yeah, I know. And what happened was what my sister Jazz calls 'auto-pilot.'" He sat down across from them and considered how to explain. "Okay, if I use up more energy than usual or if I get less sleep than usual, I have to try and make up for it. I tend to eat a lot more, and need more sleep." 

Hermione nodded. "Yes, that would make more sense. Your body wants to make up for what it's lost." 

Danny nodded. "Yeah, the problem is that I don't always manage to get a decent amount of sleep. I'm a light sleeper, which means that little things wake me up a lot." He rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "That's where the 'auto-pilot' thing comes in."

Harry was the first to understand. "You mean you weren't being rude or anything, you just didn't recognize anyone."

Danny blushed slightly. "Yeah. Speaking of, I'm really sorry, Ron, Hermione."

They both nodded and forgave him. Ron grinned. "Well, now I can tell mum I'm not waking you up from now on."

Danny blushed even brighter. "Hopefully you won't have to deal with it too much." He sat back and sank into his thoughts as he watched Ron and Hermione start teasing Harry about some of his own sleeping habits. Harry tried to defend himself, but it didn't work too well. 

'I guess I haven't figured out where they stand. I mean, they aren't really friends like Sam and Tucker, since I'm not sure what to trust them with, but they are kind of like friends. Allies, maybe?' He nodded slightly to himself. 'Yeah that'll work.'

His lips twitched slightly even as he blushed even brighter than before when he thought of a very specific incident that had happened a few months ago, when he had gone into 'auto-pilot' on a school day.

_Flashback_

The ghosts had been heavier than usual the last few days, and Danny had barely gotten any sleep. Maybe it was a good thing that Jazz had been the one to try and wake him up. 

Jazz sighed in annoyance when she realized her little brother was still in bed. "Danny! Come on, Danny, wake—!" When she realized Danny had an ecto-blast pointed at her, Jazz froze, and prayed that her parents wouldn't come in. "Come on, Danny, it's me, Jazz."

Danny tilted his head slightly to look at her, and then let the blast dissipate. Getting up out of bed, he moved around Jazz and began getting dressed. 

Jazz sighed and walked out. "I better tell mom and dad," she muttered, resigned. Walking downstairs, she soon found her mom. "Hey, mom? Danny's gone into auto-pilot." 

Maddie sighed slightly in annoyance. "Wonderful. I can't keep him home; he may have to go to school like that."

Jazz winced. She knew her mother was right, but that wasn't necessarily a good thing. "Mom, he's gone into auto-pilot. We don't know how he'll react to most people at school!"

Maddie rubbed her forehead. "I know, Jazz, but we really don't have a choice. I don't want him to get in trouble because of how many times he's been absent."

Just then, Danny walked down and into the kitchen. Finding a bowl in the cupboard and pouring himself some cereal, he sat and began to eat. You could barely tell he wasn't all there at the moment, since the only indication was his silence. He rarely said anything when he was in auto-pilot.

Sam and Tucker arrived not long after, and blinked when Danny didn't say anything to either of them. He just glanced up, noted who they were, and kept eating. "Danny? Is something wrong?" Sam asked hesitantly. 

Jazz sighed from her seat at the other side of the table. "He's gone into auto-pilot. Unfortunately, mom can't keep him at home."

Tucker and Sam both winced. "Ooh, not good. It's probably a good thing Sam or I or both of us are in Danny's classes. We'll have to explain." Sam nodded in silent agreement. 

Danny stood and put his dishes in the sink, before going to lean against a wall near Sam. He usually went to stand or sit near her when he was like this. Sam sighed softly. "Come on, Danny, we need to get to school." Danny calmly fell into step beside her, his eyes closed the whole time. 

Tucker snickered and quickly caught up to Sam. "You know, this is the first time Danny's had to go to school like this. He usually manages to do it over the weekend, when he can just sleep all day."

Sam nodded. "Yeah, really." Then she smirked. "You know, in a way I'm almost looking forward to this." 

Tucker gave her a strange look. "What do you mean?"

Sam grinned. "How do you think Danny'll react to Dash trying to stuff him in his locker?"

Tucker laughed. "Oh, I see. It would be nice if he could get Dash to back off."

They spent the rest of the walk to school imagining the ways Danny might react to everyone at school. Though she didn't say it, there were two in particular that Sam wanted to see: Paulina and Valerie, two girls he had once had crushes on. The whole time, Danny simply followed behind them with his eyes closed. 

When they got to school, Sam and Tucker visited their own lockers before leading Danny to his own. Sam calmly opened his locker and pulled out the books Danny would need. Shoving them into his hands, she waited until he took them before she let go. She had learned the hard way that this was a good idea. 

Then Tucker split off to go to his own class, leaving Sam with a "Good luck." Sam simply sighed softly. "Come on, Danny, your first class is with me," Sam told him. Danny obediently went with her, eyes closed once more.

In class, Sam guided Danny into his chair next to her own, ignoring the stares this action received. It didn't help that Danny looked like he was sleep-walking. When Mr. Lancer called roll, Sam answered to tell him that Danny was there.

Mr. Lancer frowned. "Is there some reason Mr. Fenton can't answer himself? I don't mind if he simply raises his hand, Miss Manson."

Sam blushed slightly. "Well, he probably won't be doing too much today, Mr. Lancer."

Lancer frowned. "And why is that, Miss Manson?"

Sam sighed. "Jazz calls it auto-pilot. Danny won't be doing much today, but Mrs. Fenton didn't want to keep him home."

Danny raised his head and opened his eyes partially when he heard his name. Looking up at Mr. Lancer, he tilted his head to one side. 'Lancer, teacher, respect don't fight.' Looking around, he glanced at each of his classmates. 'Sam, girlfriend, classmate, friend, trust. Other classmates, annoyances.' 

Danny tilted his head slightly as he noticed one person again. 'Valerie, almost ally.' Then he once more closed his eyes and tilted his head down until his chin was on his chest, and went into a different state of awareness. He might look asleep, but he was aware of what was going on around him.

Sam sighed as she saw what Danny did. Most people would just see him look up, look around, and go back to sleep, but she had seen the calculation in those blue eyes, and knew that Danny was deciding how to react to his classmates.

The rest of the school day passed in much the same way. Tucker met Sam and Danny in the hall when it was his turn to lead Danny to class, and simply got Danny to go with him before leading the way. 

Of course, the day didn't go as well as it could have. Dash tried to stuff Danny in his locker before lunch, figuring that Danny wouldn't be able to fight back when he was half-asleep. He was wrong.

Danny considered the blond jock he had pinned face-down to the ground. Dash had tried to grab him and Danny simply dodged, knocked his feet out from under him, and now had his arm twisted behind his back to keep him from doing anything for the moment. Those who had seen it were staring in amazement at the smooth action. 

Danny looked up, his eyes sharp and clear, though he was still operating on auto-pilot. 'Dash, jock, annoyance only.' Decided, he calmly released Dash's arm and stood, going to stand near Sam. 

Sam smiled slightly. "Come on, Danny. Let someone else take care of him, it's time to eat." She turned and left, Danny obediently walking with her, once more looking like he was sleep-walking.

On the way to their table, Paulina and her posse of cheerleaders stopped to insult them. "Well, if it isn't the loser lovebirds." She would have said more, if Danny hadn't taken action in a rather unusual way.

Calmly looking up and tilting his head to study Paulina, Danny soon had her classified. 'Paulina, cheerleader, annoyance, insulting Sam, ignore. Other cheerleaders, also annoyances.' Grabbing Sam's elbow, he calmly steered her around the group. Sam blinked but went along with it. 

When they got to their table, Sam pulled Danny down beside her. "Danny? What was that about?"

Danny yawned, and focused on her before he spoke for the first time that day. "Sam and Tucker: friends. Jocks and cheerleaders: annoyances. She's worthless anyway."

Sam blushed brightly, an extremely happy feeling welling up in her heart. 'He called Paulina worthless! And earlier, he barely noticed Valerie!' She had to clamp very hard on an un-Goth-like urge to giggle.

Tucker arrived a few minutes later, and eyed a brightly blushing Sam. "What are you blushing about? Danny promise to take you on a date?" Very little of his friend's relationship at school had changed, so he still got to tease them whenever he felt like it.

Sam hit him. "Oh, quit it. It's not like he would do anything like that right now. He's pretty much out."

Tucker nodded. "Yeah, so what did he say and/or do? Besides putting Dash on the floor."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "You've heard about that already?"

Tucker gave her an amused look. "Sam, Dash's number one target kept himself from being shoved into a locker by pinning him on the floor when he was technically partially asleep. It's already all over school." 

Sam sighed but nodded. "I get it. It'll probably be all over town by evening."

Tucker nodded. "So, if Danny didn't promise you a date, what had you all blush-y and almost giggly?" 

Sam glared. "I don't giggle. And it wasn't that big a deal." She dropped the glare and told him what had happened.

Tucker grinned. "That explains it. Nothing else would get you of all people giggling."

Sam stole his hat and swatted him with it.

After that, the day was almost normal. Of course, by then all the teachers knew about Danny practically sleep-walking that day, but they decided to simply ignore it and let Sam or Tucker answer for him when they called roll.

_End Flashback_

Danny considered the three friends in front of him for a long moment when he came out of his memory. Then, he calmly got up while they weren't paying attention and went outside to practice with his staff. He doubted Hermione would want to continue tutoring right then, anyway.

_(break)_

AN: Well, this is annoying. My usual breaks still aren't working. Oh well, at least the ones they give us to use are working again. They weren't, last time I tried. Okay, in case you hadn't noticed, this is a very long chapter. It's nearly twice as long as the others, but don't expect this too often. It mostly just kind of happened this way. That, and I'm feeling a bit guilty about the really long wait between my last chapter and the one before it. And of course the break between this and the last one, though that wasn't nearly as long. Still, my brother's been bugging me about it.

Anyway, hope you enjoy the latest chapter. Continuum is a bit screwy, but I didn't think anyone would be interested in weeks of Hermione--and Harry, and a little bit of Ron--tutoring Danny. Speaking of, if you don't think the timing to learn all that is right, let me know. I wasn't too sure, so I just kind of took a swing at it.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Yeesh, how many did I forget?

Edit: More corrections! Michi G. rules! Minor, just one thing in this one.

_(break)_

Chapter 7

It was about a week after the 'auto-pilot incident,' as it had been dubbed, that Danny finally met the twins. Walking down to the kitchen, he was a bit tired but awake. Something about practicing magic nearly every day was draining, and he slept more than he had in a long time. 

As he passed the picture of Mrs. Black, Danny couldn't help a soft snicker. The woman hadn't shown her face much since the time he had accidentally shot her picture. Not even Tonks tripping over that stupid umbrella stand had gotten a stir. 

On the other hand, if Dumbledore made the slightest noise, she would make such a screeching racket that nobody could hear anything else for almost an hour. When others had asked Danny to interfere and shut her up, since nothing else seemed to work, he simply smiled and kept doing what he was doing. The Fenton earplugs he wore helped him ignore the noise. 

In the kitchen, Danny tilted his head slightly at the sight of two identical redheads, but simply shook his head slightly. As usual, Mrs. Weasley was bustling around, making breakfast. 'There is no way I'm dealing with twins right now. Not if they are the ones Harry, Ron, and Hermione mentioned.'

Danny sat at the table and happily accepted the breakfast Mrs. Weasley passed to him, with the daily admonishment that he was too thin. He ignored it from long practice and began eating. 

Fred and George considered the half-asleep brunette that had just joined them, and decided that they could have some fun. George was sitting next to him, with a small bag of a certain powder in his hand. "I'm telling you Gred, we really need to think of a name for this stuff." He waved his hands around, but Danny calmly ducked when he almost hit him. 

Fred nodded. "You're right Forge, but what could it be?" 

Mrs. Weasley just sighed. She had finally just accepted the fact that the twin's shop was a good thing. 'Though if I ever find out who gave them the money for it, I'm still giving them quite a talking to!'

Danny continued eating, ducking and dodging George's arm whenever he waved it too near him. George considered the question. "Well, it does have some interesting affects." So saying, he tried to 'accidentally' dump it over Danny's food. Without even opening his eyes, Danny grabbed his wrist, forcing George to let go of the powder all over himself.

With a sneeze, he was suddenly an Irish setter. Another sneeze and he was human again. Another sneeze and he was a golden retriever. Sneeze, human, sneeze, dog. This happened for nearly five minutes, with George turning into a different breed of dog each time.

Danny calmly finished off his breakfast and put his plate in the sink. Just before he left, he commented, "Why don't you call it Sneeze Breed? Seems to work well enough on him." A stunned Fred, George, and Mrs. Weasley stared after him, surprised that someone new that had seemed half-asleep could manage to turn George's own prank against him.

Danny simply walked outside and pulled his ecto-staff out of his pocket. It was a good time to practice. 

Finally, George's sneezing slowed down a bit. "You do realize, -achoo!- -bark!- that this –achoo!-"

Fred grinned. "Means war?" George, currently a Great Dane, nodded in agreement before he sneezed once more. "You do realize that that—"

"—lasts all –achoo!- -bark- day? I remember. Especially –achoo!-"

Fred finished for him. "With how much he dumped all over you."

Mrs. Weasley sighed. Having raised the two, she was almost used to their antics. Almost. "Well, if you're going to be doing that all day, don't shed in the kitchen. Even with magic, shed animal hair is nearly impossible to get rid of." She paused as she noticed the looks in their eyes. "And if I find that you shed too much in any part of this house, I'll make you clean it up yourself. The muggle way!"

The twins quickly vacated the kitchen, knowing that she was serious. 

Walking down the hall, Harry stared as one of the twins and a black lab bounded past. Staring after them, he saw the dog sneeze and turn into the other twin. He sighed and walked into the kitchen. "Hey, Mrs. Weasley. Do I even want to know?"

Mrs. Weasley frowned. "Hmm? Oh, you ran into the twins?" Harry nodded and she smiled. "Danny managed to turn one of their pranks around on them when…I think it was George tried to dump a powder on his food." 

Harry blinked. "Danny got the best out of their pranks? How?"

Mrs. Weasley smiled. "Well, George was waving his arms all over the place, and Danny just kept ducking whenever George waved a little too close. Then he tried to dump the powder, and Danny grabbed his wrist and forced him to dump it all over himself." She chuckled as she set a plate in front of Harry. "George sneezed and turned into a muggle dog, an Irish setter I think they're called." 

Harry blinked. "Wow. I'm going to have to tell Ron and Hermione about that." 

Mrs. Weasley's lips twitched slightly as she added something else. "Well, Danny looked about half-asleep during all this. And Fred mentioned that George would be switching between dog and human all day."

Harry laughed and nodded. "Definitely have to tell Ron and Hermione. And Remus."

_(break)_

Outside, Fred and George stealthily crept up on where Danny was practicing. Since they didn't want him to know they were there, Fred had put a silencing charm on both of them to keep Danny from hearing George's sneezing.

Danny was focused on his forms, practicing and letting his senses tell him if someone was near. Since it promised to be a hot day, he had already taken off his shirt. It was a habit he had gotten into and never bothered to break, especially when Sam came to watch him. He still remembered that blush when Tucker reminded her that he sometimes took off his shirt, after all.

Fred raised an eyebrow as they watched, and used their private sign. (He's good. And ickle Ronniekins said that he's pretty much a natural flyer. Think he'll make beater?)

George had to wait through two sneezes before he could answer. (I don't know, I think they already have two, don't they? Might make him reserve, though.)

Fred nodded in agreement and noted that his twin's sneezes were slowing down. This was both a good thing and a bad thing. 'If George doesn't sneeze for a while when he's a dog, he'll be stuck until he sneezes again. Of course, if it happens when he's human then he gets to be human for a while.'

Fred raised his wand and sent a simple hair-color changing charm at Danny. Best to test his defenses, after all. 

Danny felt the strange sensation that he had begun to associate with magic coming towards him. Without thinking, he used his staff to block it and send it back the way it came. He hadn't heard anybody, but…

Fred quickly ducked his own spell and exchanged an impressed look with George. Then he motioned George to move around and changed his own position. When they were roughly opposite each other, Fred fired a prank hex. George fired his own once he was human.

Danny felt the two spells and did the only thing he could think of. He ducked down and hit one, which seemed to be designed to follow him, back toward it's origin, and simply dodged the other one. 'This could be fun.'

George silently whistled. The first time could have been coincidence, but there was no way this was. 'He couldn't possibly have dodged one and sent the other back at Fred by accident. I wonder how he's doing that.'

Danny grinned and let out a long whistle. Tobias, who had settled earlier into a nearby tree, took to the air. Circling above, he let out a cry over each of the twins' hiding places. Whistling again, Danny grinned. Now this would be fun. 

Relaxing into the movement, Danny pretended to be oblivious as he moved closer and closer to one of the hiding places, occasionally dodging or batting spells away from himself. Finally, he jumped into a tree a few feet away and came down almost on top of Fred. "Come out, come out, wherever you are George. I've got your twin."

Fred sputtered, caught by surprise. "What are you doing? And how do you know I'm not George?"

Danny shrugged. "I don't know how I can tell you apart, since from what I've been told you can fool your own mother. I just can." That said, he ducked and brought his staff up in an arc that redirected the spell George had used on him to hit the currently-terrier twin. Immediately, he was covered in bows and ribbons, which carried over when he sneezed and turned human once more. 

Danny grinned. "Ah, come on. You weren't really going to try that on me, were you?"

George tried to scowl at him, but ended up grinning himself. "Yes, actually. Care for a make-over?"

Danny shook his head and let Fred get up. "Nah, I've never been much for ribbons and bows." He stepped out once more to the center of the clearing he used to practice in, and glanced over at the twins. "Wanna go another round? I could use some more practice in this."

The twins blinked, glanced at each other, and grinned. Finally, Fred asked a question. "Rules?"

Danny grinned. "No overly harmful spells, since I'm going to do my best to either dodge of send them back at you, and some will probably get through. Other than that, I don't care."

Fred and George grinned and re-did their silencing spells before going back into the trees. Fred climbed up a tree while George stuck to the ground. Being a dog up a tree would not be fun, especially since he had no idea how big or small he would be each time. 

Danny went back to practicing like normal, keeping his senses open for the spells. Every now and then, he'd be forced to dodge or block. Once, he was distracted by one spell that came from in front of him, when another got him in the butt, and he felt his pants turn into a skirt.

Danny was caught by surprise at the change, and barely managed to dodge the follow-up, which probably would have added a blouse. His grin turned more feral. 'This means war.'

_(break)_

By the time they got back to the house hours later, those around could only stare. The first to come in was a short-haired brunette in a knee-length skirt and matching blouse, with a small bust. The look on 'her' face could have ignited steel. 

Behind her came a bright orange dog with the fur on its head a bright pink color that acted almost like hair. It also had long fur, completely full of ribbons and bows of all colors. It sneezed and turned into George, though the coloring didn't change at all. He had a distinctly wary look on his face as he watched the brunette. He also kept the ears and tail that he had had as a dog.

Fred also was looking warily at the brunette, remembering the fury 'she' had used when 'she' had been turned into a girl. He was about three feet tall with a beard so long that he had ended up literally tying it around his waist so he wouldn't trip on it. His ears were huge; they looked like an elephant's and also dragged on the floor. To add to that, his skin was bright orange, and his beard and hair were neon pink. 

Both twins were covered in long, narrow bruises that had probably come from a staff.

Danny stomped up to the room he shared with Ron and Harry, and ignored their incredulous looks as he grabbed a set of clothes and set off for the bathroom to change. 

Ginny stared at her twin brothers. "What the heck _happened_ to you two? You look like you got into a fight with a broom!"

George sighed. "Not too far from the truth, my dear –achoo!-"

Fred continued. "Little sister." Between the two of them, they managed to explain the whole story. 

Ginny held up a hand. "Wait a minute. That girl who went upstairs looking royally pissed, was Danny?" The twins simply nodded agreement, which looked a bit strange since George was a bull dog, complete with bows, ribbons, and coloring from before. Ginny bit her lip trying to hold back laughter. "No wonder he's so pissed." She sat down and wrapped a hand around her stomach and clapped a hand over her mouth. Silent tears of mirth were soon rolling down her face. 

Suddenly, from upstairs there was a cry of pure rage, and Fred and George exchanged panicked glances before bolting. A moment later, there was a dark blur on their tails, waving a bright green staff. The sound floated back to Ginny, and she lost her battle with laughter. "Get back here you idiots and undo this!" 

Fred and George yelled back in unison. "You never said anything about spells we'd have to undo!" Their only answer was a scream of pure rage, and nothing more was heard besides howls of pain.

_(break)_

That night at dinner, Danny was still a girl but seemed marginally calmer. Fred and George, on the other hand, were practically shrinking back from her and being very polite. They were still covered in bruises, since Mrs. Weasley refused to let them have any healing potions until Danny was once more male.

Finally, Danny spoke. "How long will this take to wear off?" His voice had a hint of humor in it, since he was enjoying his revenge. Fred and George were still suffering from their own prank spells as well as the bruises. 

Fred very hesitantly spoke. "About 24 hours after it was first cast."

Danny's calm instantly broke. "YOU MEAN I HAVE TO _SLEEP_ LIKE THIS!" 

The twins grabbed each other in terror, not wanting to run since Danny was faster than them and it would only make her angrier. They were very relieved when four different spells hit her, sticking her to the chair, but their relief was short-lived when Danny pulled an ecto-gun and shot each of them once before it was summoned out of his hand by Hermione.

The twins were flat on their backs and staring at the ceiling. Finally, George coughed. "Fred?" 

Fred coughed before he answered. "Yeah, George?"

"That hurt," George announced calmly.

Fred nodded. "Yeah. It did."

Harry and Ron were suddenly very wary. Harry leaned over to Ron. "Think we should ward the door and window to keep him in?"

Ron nodded. "Should probably ward his bed, too."

Danny gave them an annoyed look. "I can hear every word you two say, you know." There was a hint of green in her eyes, though nobody really noticed. They were too busy being very careful around the pissed-off currently-female Danny. 

Ron and Harry instantly straightened and tried to look innocent, not wanting to get on Danny's bad side, especially with how Fred and George looked.

_(break)_

For the next few days, things settled into a kind of routine. Fred and George practically walked on egg-shells around Danny. Danny, whenever he had the chance, would randomly shoot them with his ecto-gun and either act innocent or be invisible so they couldn't see him. Of course, they always knew it was him, but they were just a little too wary of him to do anything.

Occasionally, Danny would allow Ron, Hermione, Harry or even Ginny to use his spare ecto-gun to shoot them when he wasn't around. Or rather, when they didn't think he was there, since he 

usually turned invisible. Occasionally, he really _was_ somewhere else and had an alibi to prove it. It was making the twins paranoid.

Finally, Danny started something else. He pranked the twins with their own products. There were plenty of snickers when they turned into canaries for the first time. Of course, this caused them to retaliate. 

Since they had realized that Danny couldn't be hit by their prank spells if he didn't want to be, they got sneakier. They tried hiding different pranks in his food, but it wasn't until they spelled them to make them unnoticeable that he would be caught. Even then, he sometimes knew that there was something wrong, though nobody knew how he knew. 

Of course, Hermione helped to lessen Danny's efforts of revenge, though she didn't see it that way, when she forced him to continue tutoring. It didn't take him long to finish catching up in Potions or Transfigurations, which pleased Snape and McGonagall. To Hermione's surprise, Danny managed to do reasonably well in Ancient Runes lessons, and he soon finished catching up with that one as well. 

Soon, they were focusing mostly on Charms, which he didn't mind, and Herbology, which he regularly tried to slip away from. Hermione had decided to just accept Danny's tendency to disappear, though she still researched possibilities. She also did things like ward the door to keep Danny from being able to leave. She did the same thing in History of Magic lessons, though she only hit the high points there. 

Finally, Danny got through the lessons and was pretty much caught up in all classes. A month had passed, and it was almost time for school to start. 

Hermione bounced up. "Good news! You get to take your O.W.L.S before school starts."

Danny stared at her. "Aren't those the really long tests in all subjects that are taken at the end of the school year?"

Hermione nodded. "Yes. But they're making an exception for you, since you haven't been to Hogwarts yet."

Danny sighed. "When?"

Hermione grinned. "Your first two will be tomorrow. Those are Potions and Transfiguration. After that, you will have Charms, then DADA, Herbology, COMC, Ancient Runes, History of Magic, and Astronomy in that order. They'll all be spread out over about a week, since you'll be the only one taking them right now."

Danny put his head down and beat it against the table. 'This week is going to be hell.'

_(break)_

At the end of the week, Danny was finally finished with the OWLs. 'Thank god I can practically do Astronomy in my sleep. I almost had to.' Yawning widely, Danny put his head down on the table as the wizard administering the exams took the just-finished test and looked over it quickly. 

Looking up, he raised an eyebrow when he realized the boy was asleep. He shook his head and went to the door, where Mrs. Weasley, who had brought him in, was waiting. "Hello, Mrs. Weasley. Your charge fell asleep after his last test."

Mrs. Weasley quickly rose. "Is he all right?"

The wizard nodded reassuringly. "Oh, he's fine, probably just tired. It wouldn't be the first time, after all." 

Mrs. Weasley nodded and went to wake Danny. They had learned the hard way that it was a bad idea to let anyone he didn't know do it. "Danny, come on. It's time to go. You can sleep in bed."

Danny woke when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Casually slipping his hand down to grip his ecto-gun, he considered the woman who woke him. 'Mrs. Weasley, kind, mothering type. Ally.' Yawning, he released the ecto-gun and stood to follow Mrs. Weasley out. 

Mrs. Weasley smiled slightly. She hadn't missed his reaching for a weapon, not after raising the twins, but she also noted that he hadn't drawn it. "That's it, come on Danny."

The wizard watched the whole process with a raised eyebrow and was about to leave when something made him take a closer look. Danny's eyes were closed as he followed Mrs. Weasley to the door. He blinked. "He's not awake at all, is he?"

Mrs. Weasley smiled. "No, but he can function well enough. I just need to get him somewhere he can go back to sleep." Wishing him a good day, Mrs. Weasley walked off to the apparition point. "Come on, Danny. I just need to apparate us, and you can go to bed. Though you really should eat, you're much too thin as it is."

Danny simply followed, in no shape to argue or even care. When they got to the apparition point, he obediently held Mrs. Weasley's arm when she apparated. Going in the door and walking straight up to his room, he collapsed face-first onto his bed. 

Mrs. Weasley smiled slightly as she watched to make sure Danny didn't trip on the stairs before she went into the kitchen to start cooking. 'After all, when he wakes up he'll be hungry. He's really too skinny to skip a meal, but he was so exhausted, there was no point in making him stay down here to eat. He would have just fallen asleep at the table.'

_(break)_

AN: Okay, for whatever reason something about this chapter bothers me. I've had it written for a few days, but I didn't want to put it up yet. I finally decided that I might as well, considering. Sorry about how choppy it is, that's just the way it came out. I tried to fix it, but it didn't work too well, as you can see. Hope you enjoy it anyway. 


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I am neither British nor male. Draw your own conclusions on whether or not I own Harry Potter or Danny Phantom. (I actually remembered this one the first time around!)

Edit: Thank you Michi G.! Few things in this one. Italicized the Hat's speech, changed the wording at a couple points, things like that. Before, Danny's ghost sense did go off when Nick first showed up, I just put it weird so it was hard to find. It's now been fixed.

_(break)_

Chapter 8 

The twins had watched their mother and Danny come in, and saw the way Danny split off and went upstairs. 

George smiled. "Gred, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" 

Fred smiled as well. "Only if you are thinking the same thing I'm thinking, Forge."

George bounded up the stairs. "Let's prank him—"

Fred was on his heels. "—while he's asleep."

Poor Fred and George. They hadn't been around for the auto-pilot incident, and no one had thought to warn them about it. Or perhaps no one thought that it would happen again before school started once more. Guess they were wrong.

Danny heard the door, which he had closed behind him, open almost silently. Instantly, he was more alert, but unfortunately for the twins, he was still in auto-pilot mode. 

Fred and George looked around, not the least bit surprised at how messy it was. There were three teenage boys staying there, after all. They split up to go to either side of Danny's bed, and George was just about to hit Danny with a prank spell, when something happened. 

The moment the door opened, Danny's eyes had slit open just enough to see who it was. 'Fred and George, pranksters, twins, annoyances, possible allies, fight back.' When George was about to use a spell of some kind on Danny, he grabbed George's wrist and took his wand as he flipped him over the bed and into his twin. He managed to snatch Fred's wand as they were going down.

Fred and George had the breath knocked out of them, and their wands taken before they realized what had happened. They looked up at Danny, who stood over them with their wands in one hand. Expecting to see him with a smirk of some kind on his face, they were surprised at the oddly blank look in his eyes, as if he wasn't all there. 

Danny used his own wand to cast two "Petrificus Totalus" and "Mobilicorpus" before dragging the two petrified twins out of the room using their shoelaces.

Calmly walking downstairs with them, Danny followed his nose to the kitchen, where Mrs. Weasley had decided to cook something for him. Needless to say, she was a bit surprised to see Danny standing in the doorway. "Danny! You startled me. I wasn't expecting you for a few hours at least!" She shook her head. "Never mind, sit down and I'll get you something to eat."

Danny smiled slightly and walked the rest of the way into the room, still dragging the twins. Since Mrs. Weasley had her back turned to get him something, he calmly canceled his Mobilicorpus, and leaned the still-petrified twins against a wall, where he could watch them and they could see everything.

Mrs. Weasley turned and had to stare. "Fred? George? What happened to you?"

Danny started in on his food, but calmly answered anyway. "They tried to prank me."

Mrs. Weasley looked between Danny and the twins for a long moment and saw that Danny was still in auto-pilot and looked more asleep than before. Then she looked at the twins. "We never did tell them about your… what was it? Auto-pill it? Whatever it was." She sighed. "Well, guess you two are going to be staying there for a while." 

Fred and George's eyes widened in surprise at that. 'She can't be serious!'

As a mother, Mrs. Weasley could read her children fairly well. This was easy. "Oh, I'm quite serious. For one thing, it's an appropriate enough punishment, and I'll know where to find you later. For another, we've found that Danny doesn't always allow anybody else to remove the spells he puts up." 

To demonstrate, Mrs. Weasley sent a "Finite Incantem" at the twin on the left. Danny used a shielding spell to block it, barely looking up. Turning to Danny Mrs. Weasley calmly asked. "Danny, where are their wands?"

Danny pulled the two wands from where he'd stashed them in a pocket and handed them to her. Then he calmly went back upstairs and collapsed once more in his bed. Sleep…

Downstairs, Mrs. Weasley smiled fondly and went back to cooking. As she did, she began to explain what had happened weeks before, when Ron had tried to wake up Danny and nearly got shot by an ecto-blast. 

Knowing how much being shot stung, the twins were seriously wondering whether they might have preferred that punishment to being forced to stand propped against a wall, petrified. At least being shot was quick. This was just embarrassing!

Several hours later, when Danny finally woke up, he yawned and went down to the kitchen, where Fred and George were still propped against a wall. "Guess you won't try that again." He grinned at them a bit sleepily and cancelled the spell. Leaving them in the kitchen, Danny went to an empty room, where he made sure there was plenty of room and began to do some practicing with his staff. A glance outside had shown that it had started raining sometime after he went to sleep, and he didn't feel like getting wet. 

Hermione soon found Danny, and stared when she saw what he was doing. "Whoa."

Danny didn't even glance up. "Hey, Hermione. Did you need something?"

Hermione shook herself slightly. "Ah, yes. You need to get packed soon. Tomorrow we're going to be leaving for Hogwarts."

Danny nodded. "'Kay. Thanks." He never let up with his practice. 'I never thought about it, but the twins are the only ones who've seen me practicing.'

_(break)_

The next day, Danny smirked as he watched Harry and Ron sleepily stomp around, getting all their stuff and trying to stay awake. Danny had been up for almost two hours by the time they were ready to go. Hermione, of course, was already packed and ready to go. 

It didn't take long to get to the train station, since two cars had been provided for all of them. Danny looked around the busy station, watching all the people and getting a feel for the magic of the place. 'This feels really weird. How much magic is around here, anyway?'

Ron grinned. It was the first time anyone had told Danny how to get on the platform. "Come on, Danny! We have to find a spot on the train!"

Danny smiled slightly. "All right, but I'm not the one who took forever to get all their stuff." He looked pointedly at both Ron and Harry, who looked slightly embarrassed. "So how do we get to this train, anyway?"

Mrs. Weasley led the way over to the entrance. "Come on, everyone. Ron, you first, show him how it's done." 

Danny's eyes widened when he saw Ron run right through the wall, and he stared for a long moment. "That's how you get on the platform? By running through a wall?"

Mrs. Weasley nodded. "Of course, dearie. Come on now, we really should be going." 

Danny shrugged and pushed his cart through the wall with no hesitation. He smirked as he felt himself go through. 'Now this is oddly familiar.' Danny blinked and absently moved away from the entrance while he looked at the much smaller crowd on and around the train. 

It didn't take long for the others to come through, and soon they were saying their goodbyes for the school year. Mrs. Weasley pulled Danny in when he seemed to try to distance himself from the group, and gave him a motherly hug. 

"You just do your best there, and don't worry; you'll catch up to the others. I'm sure we won't have to worry about you, but be careful." She quickly made the rounds with all of them, and Danny backed away slightly. He still wasn't quite used to the way Mrs. Weasley seemed to have adopted him, at least for as long as he was there. 

Shaking his head, Danny used a feather-light charm on his trunk and picked it up to rest on his left shoulder. Tobias was clinging to his right. True to Danny's prediction when he'd first bought the bird, Danny's shoulder had become his favorite perch.

Ron, Harry, and Hermione had their trunks floating along behind them as they went searching for an empty compartment. It didn't take them long to find one at the end, and soon after the train took off. 

Almost halfway through the ride, the door slid open, and Draco Malfoy made his annual entrance with his bodyguards Crabbe and Goyle. "Well, well, so this is where you're hiding, huh Potter?" 

Harry rolled his eyes. "Malfoy, you do this every year. Don't you ever get tired of hearing your own voice?"

Malfoy glared at him angrily. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Harry just rolled his eyes again. "If you have to ask, then I won't bother trying to explain."

Malfoy was about to retort, when somebody he had not noticed until then decided to have his say.

Danny looked up from the magazine in his hands. "You must be either really important or really cowardly to need bodyguards on the train to school. I'll let you figure out which I think."

Malfoy whirled on him angrily. "Do you have any idea who I am?" he demanded angrily. 

Danny shrugged. "Well, considering the fact that you have bodyguards, think you're better than everyone else, and Harry already called you Malfoy… nope not a clue." He noticed Malfoy start to open his mouth and continued. "Of course, we both know you're just _dying_ to enlighten me, so go ahead. See if I care." 

"I'm Draco_Malfoy._" He huffed angrily.

Danny nodded. "Uh huh, thanks. I got that part already. Was there anything else, or was there actually a point to all this?"

Malfoy was slightly startled for a moment before he collected himself. "It's an extremely respected pureblood name, though I wouldn't expect a _Yank_ to know that." He sneered impressively, but it was lost on Danny, who was once more reading his magazine.

Danny shrugged. "If you're trying to insult me, you might want to try a bit harder." He glanced up for a moment. "Of course, I wouldn't expect a_pureblood_ such as yourself to have any manners, so I'll excuse you for not even asking who I am before you tried to insult me."

Malfoy stared at him, reddening slightly. Finally, he found his voice again. "Fine. Who are you?"

Danny smiled. "Danny Fenton. Not that I expect you to know the name. After all, I try to keep from getting my hopes up in these cases."

Malfoy snarled, turned on his heel and stalked out, unable to think of a response. Crabbe and Goyle stayed a moment longer before turning to follow him. 

The trio stared at Danny for a long moment. Finally, Ron spoke. "Bloody hell! You out-insulted Malfoy!"

Danny shrugged. "Not like it was hard. He couldn't seem to think of anything original to say. Of course, if he'd had more brains than his bodyguards combined, it might have been harder." He smirked. "And I didn't out-insult him, I outtalked him. I didn't use a single insult." 

Hermione blinked and thought about it. "You're right, you didn't. The only thing you said that could have been taken as an insult was the way you emphasized pureblood."

Danny yawned and nodded. "Yep. Though not stroking his ego might have been considered an insult to him. I don't know." Settling himself firmly in a corner facing the door, he closed his eyes and quickly went to sleep, waiting for the train ride to be over. 'I might as well sleep now, so I have plenty of time to explore Hogwarts later.'

_(break)_

As the train ride went on, Danny began sensing a large source of magic that they were approaching. Before long, the sense of it grew too much for him to ignore, and he woke just as Hermione said something about it being time to change into their school robes. Danny just stretched and grabbed a robe out of his trunk, pulling it on over his clothes. 

Hermione shook her head. "Danny, you really should change into your uniform. It's not just a robe!"

Danny shrugged. "What's the point? You can't see anything else, so unless I take off my robe, nobody will know that I don't have that on," he gestured to Ron and Harry, who had their uniforms on, "and since I see no point in wearing a uniform when no one else will see it, I won't." 

Hermione looked between Ron and Danny, and realized he was right. If she hadn't just seen him pull a robe on over his clothes, she'd never know he wasn't wearing a uniform underneath. Finally, she huffed in annoyance. "Fine, but if you get in trouble with the professors because you're not wearing a uniform, don't look at me!"

Danny smiled. He had won that battle. 'Sometimes it's good to have a girlfriend who's good at debating. Some of it must have rubbed off on me.' He shook his head slightly before he could go 

down the train of thought that his phrasing had brought. 'Now is not the time for that. Especially when I won't see Sam in person for months.'

The Hogwarts train stopped, and Danny was brought out of his thoughts as he followed the others off the train. A large man Danny recognized as Hagrid was calling for all the first years. Remembering that he'd been told to go with the first years in the boats, he calmly split off from Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "See ya later, guys."

Following the first years and Hagrid down to the lake, Danny was glad of the good night vision that he had gained after the accident in his parents' lab. The path down to the lake was steep and slippery, and he more than once grabbed somebody when they started to tumble down the slope. 

Finally, they got to the boats. Hagrid yelled, "Only four to a boat," so Danny followed several first years to one of the boats. Once everyone was settled, Hagrid bellowed, "Forward!" and the boats obediently took off. 

Looking around as they got out into the water, Danny saw Hogwarts for the first time. 'They definitely know how to make a good first impression,' was his awed thought. The castle was huge, and had enough lights to be mistaken for an earth-bound constellation. 'But what would they call it?'

Once they got off the boats and headed in, Danny couldn't help but look around. On the surface, the stone seemed dark and uninteresting, but if he opened his senses slightly, he could sense the magic that was laced through everything. The castle was practically alive with it. 

Danny ignored McGonagall's introduction, and gazed around him. When his ghost sense went off, he was the first to notice a procession of ghosts going by, arguing about how they should forgive someone named Peeves. He didn't recognize the name, but it did seem familiar for some reason.

Taking all this in, Danny felt a bit intimidated. When he looked down, he wasn't surprised to see that he had faded out. Concentrating, he forced himself to be fully visible, no matter how nervous he was about being at a magic school. When the doors opened and the first years were led in, Danny was grateful for the interruption and followed them, staying back slightly.

Once inside the Great Hall, Danny leaned against a wall and let himself fade out. He still felt incredibly nervous being here, and he had never been a person who liked being stared at. Besides, if he let himself become partially invisible, it would be easier to explain than if he lost control and went completely invisible when someone was looking.

Danny didn't pay too much attention to the Sorting Ceremony, since he saw no real point once he saw the hat and sensed its inherent magic. Once it started singing, he tuned it out. There was only so much that even he—a sixteen year-old half ghost attending a magic school—could take. 

Besides, watching the students was much more interesting. Very few of the students seemed to even realize he was there, since he stood near a wall, partially in shadow. He was pretty sure not even Harry, Ron, and Hermione were entirely sure it was him. 'Heh. If most of the students notice me, they'll probably think I'm just another of the first years. And I have a great view of everything from here, which is a major plus.' 

Danny realized that McGonagall—the one calling the kids up—was already well into the H's, even though he had not heard his name. He tensed slightly at a strange thought, but the P's also 

passed without his name being called. Forcing himself to relax, he realized why. 'They're probably going to do me last, since I'm not a normal student.'

Finally, the rest of the kids were called, and Danny's suspicions were confirmed when Dumbledore stood to speak. 

Dumbledore smiled cheerfully as he stood and looked around, discreetly eyeing the shadow Danny Fenton had somehow managed to find. There were very few in the Great Hall that weren't behind the teacher's table, after all. "Welcome, everyone, to a new year at Hogwarts. I am sorry to delay your suppers," he glanced toward a certain redhead at the Gryffindor table as he said that, "but we have one more student to be sorted."

McGonagall calmly held her list of names as she called, "Fenton, Daniel."

Danny snorted softly and calmly walked out of the shadow he had been standing in. He heard plenty of whispers when he did that. Because his senses had gotten better after the lab accident, he heard the majority of what they said and snorted again. 'Sheesh, you'd think they don't know anyone who can hide in a shadow. Snape seemed like the type who could.'

Danny sighed as he sat on the stool and the woman professor placed the hat on his head. A moment later, a strange voice spoke in his mind. _Hmm, you like your privacy. I'm sorry, Mr. Fenton, but if I am to sort you, you must let down some of your shields._

Danny frowned, but did as he was told. Anything that didn't involve the fact that he was half ghost, he let the hat see. Everything else stayed hidden. Obviously the hat would notice that so much of his memory of the last two years was still inaccessible to it, but he didn't much care._That's better. Hmm, extremely smart, loyal, cunning and brave. You have traits from all houses, but I don't think you would do well in all of them._

Danny frowned slightly in confusion, but didn't ask. He still got an answer. _Oh, you are extremely smart, but you are not dedicated to your studies enough to be a Ravenclaw. You are loyal, but only to those who have proven themselves worthy, so Hufflepuff would not do. You could do well in Slytherin, but the others would not provide support you need. So it will have to be GRYFFINDOR!_

Danny smiled as he took off the hat and handed it back to the teacher before heading to the table that he had seen others sent to Gryffindor go. He ended up sitting near Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. He didn't know Ginny as well as the other three, but that didn't really matter.

Ginny watched Danny sit near the group. "Hey, Danny. How did it go?"

Danny smirked slightly as he filled his plate with some of the food that had just arrived. "Well I obviously made it this far."

Ron snickered, and Ginny absently smacked him on the arm. "I meant, what did the hat say?"

Danny smirked. "That I don't fit in any house, but Gryffindor might put up with me for a year or two."

Ginny growled, but Harry, Ron, and Hermione laughed. Another boy Danny didn't know grinned as well. Harry began introducing Danny's new housemates. "Hey, Danny. This is Neville Longbottom." Danny nodded a hello, his mouth currently full, and Harry and Ron pointed out the rest of the Gryffindors in their year between bites of food. Of course, this meant that Harry did most of the introductions.

Neville smiled. He had grown more confident over the summer, and wasn't as afraid of being laughed as he had been. Besides, it was nice to have a new addition to the House. "Where are you from?"

Danny smiled slightly. "The most haunted town in America, otherwise known as Amity Park, Oregon." 

A voice Danny didn't recognize came from behind him even as his ghost sense went off. "'Most haunted town in America'? What do you mean by that?" Danny blinked and turned around to see a mostly translucent man wearing old fashioned clothes with a large ruffle at his neck.

Danny blinked again, but answered after a moment. "I mean it exactly as it sounds. We get so many ghosts coming through that it's practically a tourist attraction."

The ghost smiled and bowed slightly. "Well, I missed the introductions. I am Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, but most of the students call me Nearly-Headless Nick."

Danny smiled. "I'm Danny Fenton."

Nick stared at him for a long moment, eyes growing extremely wide as he paled even more than usual. "Fenton? And you said you were from a town called Amity Park?" Danny sighed, but simply nodded. "Then you are from the family of ghost hunters? And you are—?"

Danny interrupted him before he said anything more. "My mom and dad are ghost hunters. Jazz refuses to get involved in it."

Nick raised one eyebrow, noticing that he hadn't said anything one way or the other about himself, but something told him it would be a bad time to bring it up. "Well, I will leave you to enjoy your dinner." He turned and floated through a wall. 

Danny stared after him for a long moment, a thoughtful look on his face. After a long moment, he turned back to his meal and absently ate.

Harry frowned slightly, and glanced at the others to see if they had noticed anything strange. Hermione leaned over slightly to whisper in his ear. "He didn't say anything about whether or not _he's_ a ghost hunter." Harry nodded slightly in agreement, but mouthed 'later' at her. Hermione and Ron both nodded in agreement before returning to their food.

_(break)_

Danny sighed softly as he followed the other Gryffindors to the Common Room. He wasn't too sure why he had to be in this school right now, but he trusted Clockwork enough to believe him when he said he needed to be here. 

Suddenly, Danny's ghost sense went off at the same time several screams of fear and outrage came from farther up the line. Without thinking, he quickly made his way forward to see what was going on. 

Peeves cackled happily as he pelted paint balloons at the Gryffindors. He laughed louder when Granger, one of the Prefects leading the new kids, started yelling at him. 

"Peeves! Stop that this instant!" Hermione yelled angrily. She had already gotten hit with a balloon filled with neon green paint. 

Danny frowned when he saw what was going on. "Hmm? Oh, yeah! The poltergeist." He gave a feral grin. "This'll be fun." Raising his voice he called, "Hey, Peeves!"

Peeves blinked and turned toward the new voice, which managed to shut up Granger for a moment. "Hmm? New ickle student? What you want, huh?"

Danny's grin widened slightly. "You're a ghost. Ever heard of the Fentons?" By the sudden pallor in an already pale ghost, he guessed he had. "Wanna know something?" 

Peeves shook off the fear the name had briefly struck him with. "What could the ickle student know, hmm? I got more balloons." So saying, he threw one straight at Danny.

Danny rolled left to avoid the balloon and settled into a crouch looking up at the annoying poltergeist. "Guess what, Peeves?" he asked and let his eyes glow green. "I'm their son."

Peeves stared for a long moment into those glowing eyes and paled so much he was almost transparent. Then he turned and left with a loud shriek of terror, forgetting his paint balloons, which splattered all over the wall where he left. They seemed to form an expression of horror, though that could have been Danny's imagination.

Danny laughed and straightened up, brushing off his clothes. 'That was fun. Guess I don't even have to go ghost to terrorize some of them.'

Hermione shook her head and stared at the boy who had joined her year. "What, how, how did you do that!"

Danny cocked his head slightly. "Ah, he's just a poltergeist. Not even a particularly strong one, really. I'm just surprised he was smart enough to be afraid."

Hermione growled softly as she used a spell to clean the paint off of herself and several first years. "That was not what I meant. Why was he so scared, and what does your family have to do with it? Does it have anything to do with how Nick was at dinner?" she asked, once more leading the way to the Gryffindor Common Room.

Danny shrugged slightly. "Well, like Nick said, my parents are ghost hunters, and they're pretty good at their job. They're also inventors. Some of their stuff is a little goofy, and it doesn't always work right, but a lot of it is pretty nasty to a ghost." He didn't add the thought that would have really made Hermione wonder about him. 'I should know.'

Hermione frowned slightly in confusion. Over the summer she had learned very little about Danny himself, except that his town was haunted, he had two really good friends, and that he wanted to be an astronaut since he was a kid. She hadn't even known his parents hunted ghosts until Nick brought it up, though he had said something about them being inventors. "Alright, but why would Peeves react that way at hearing you're their son?"

Danny laughed softly. "I know how to use each and every one of my parent's inventions, and I have my own reputation."

Before Hermione could ask, they reached Violet's painting and she spoke in a clear voice. "Ghost Gabber."

Danny frowned and slipped past her with the first years, making his way to the shadows. Something he had figured out how to do was hide extremely well in the shadows, no matter what he wore, and right now he wanted some privacy. 

Hermione sighed in frustration when Danny slipped away from her so easily. She had wanted to ask him more questions, but she knew that if Danny didn't want to be found, he wouldn't be. 

Deciding she could do it later, Hermione turned to the new first years and began explaining what they needed to know tonight, like where the dorms were.

_(break)_

AN: Okay, I know you're all probably rather annoyed with me, and I'm really sorry. It's been ... hmm ... WHAT! October 7? Okay, in my defense, I've been rather busy with school and kind of forgot. That and I wasn't too happy with this chapter. Well, the beginning part of it anyway. But I kinda wanted Fred and George to experience Danny in auto-pilot, and this was the only way I could think of. Another thing, would you believe I had no plans for Danny's first meeting with Malfoy? Don't ask me how, I just completely spaced the thing. Two more things. One, I had to look it up what Nick's full name was. Word hates it, but you can't tell me I spelled it wrong. I copied and pasted to be absolutely sure. If I have my way, I won't be dealing with it again. Last thing. The password to get into the Gryffindor tower. It doesn't have any real significance, it was just the first thing I thought of.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: Not mine. Does it matter?

_(break)_

Chapter 9

That night, Danny lay awake and stared at the ceiling. He was waiting for the right time; he wanted to be sure that no one else would be awake before he left to start his exploring. A quick _Tempus_ showed that it was almost one in the morning. 'That should be good. I doubt anyone else would want to be up so late.'

Before Danny could do more than sit up and prepare to leave, he heard a sharp gasp and motion from Harry's bed, like he had sat up suddenly. Frowning, he turned invisible and intangible to stick his head out the curtains. After a moment's consideration, he sat back on his bed and listened. 

Harry woke with a gasp, sitting up and looking around. It took him a long moment to realize that he was back in his own bed in Hogwarts. After a moment, he forced himself to relax and think. 

He shook his head. That had been a really strange dream. 'What was that all about? It felt kind of like a vision from Voldemort, but my scar doesn't hurt. Besides, I doubt he'd send me anything like that. It was almost like I was being taught something.'

_Dream Flashback_

Harry felt oddly weightless. Looking around, he realized that it was nighttime, and he seemed to be floating high in the air. 'Why am I here? What's going on? And what was that?' He had just seen a flash of something glowing at the edge of his vision, looking like it was moving quickly. 

Spinning around, and never mind how he could even _do_ that here, since he seemed to be floating in mid-air, he saw a very strange sight. A guy who looked a bit younger than Harry, perhaps a year or two, was flying. He had no apparent support, but it didn't seem to bother him, considering the blissful look on his face. 

Watching him, Harry had the feeling of somebody who went through all kinds of stress most times, but this was the only real time he had to himself. Oddly, it made Harry think of himself. He went through tons of stress, between the Dursley's and the Wizarding World alternatively loving and hating him. The only times he really had to relax was either when he was alone or it was just his closest friends, like Ron, Hermione, and Remus. 

As soon as Harry understood that, there was a soundless flash and the scene changed.

The last scene had been silent, but here there was sound. He found himself floating outside of what seemed to be a school, and vaguely heard a strangely listless cheering coming from inside. But that wasn't what interested him. That was in front of him.

The same boy he had seen flying before was being held in an uncomfortable-looking grip by a woman who was a black flame, or perhaps a black flame shaped into the form of a woman. The boy seemed angry and desperate as he struggled. "Let me go!"

The flame—er, woman—laughed, and Harry suddenly wanted to be farther away. There was nothing good about that laugh. It was the same kind of laughter he had heard Voldemort use as he watched Muggles being tortured. Then she spoke, in a mocking voice that made him even more wary. 

"Why would I do that? Your doubts, your misery, its delicious! And the best part is, after that silly speech is over, and the last domino falls, and the sparklers vaporize the speaker, we'll leave you here to take the blame! And by the time I'm done with you, you'll be sure it was all your fault!"

The boy closed his eyes, and muttered, "Man, I'm so tired of you dumping on me, and I'm so tired of dumping on myself. Jazz never did that, even when I was mad at her, and I won't let her DOWN!" Two rings of light rose from his waist, forcing the strange woman to let him go. He whirled around, green eyes glowing angrily.

The scene froze, and Harry blinked in confusion. "What's going on? Why did it stop?" Harry began to unconsciously pace, trying to figure it out. 'Well, what made the other scene change?' After a long moment, he realized. Looking at the boy, he spoke softly. "I understood something. Like a lesson? But what is this one trying to tell?"

Half closing his eyes, Harry thought of what they'd said. "She was saying something about his doubts and misery, and he said…that he was tired of dumping on himself?" Shaking his head, he paced some more, before he finally understood. "Doubt. Something made him doubt. But sometimes you have to believe in yourself, no matter what others think or say."

The soundless flash that he had half expected confirmed that Harry had understood that lesson. The next, was a bit stranger. He was floating over a large field. There were bleachers filled with what seemed to be freaky clowns, and a huge, bald, pale man with red eyes spoke into a microphone. 

Harry ignored the words, focused on what he was seeing. A roller coaster with one train, filled with three couples and a teenage girl. They were hurtling along the track, and Harry saw the same boy from before. He landed in front of the cars, obviously intending to try and make them stop. But the pale man he had first noticed used some kind of light—a spell?—to turn him into jello that burst apart when the first car it. 

The train was almost in front of a clown head that spat fire when the boy returned to his earlier form and rolled in front of it, creating a huge shield to block the fire and protect the people in the train. As they passed, Harry vaguely heard the teenage girl yell something about 'ghost envy' and 'psychology', but he wasn't paying attention. 'I've seen that color before. Where was it?'

A moment later, he got his answer, as the boy seemed to consider that girl's words. He seemed to understand and threw a ball of green light at a pair of huge hammers set to crush the train as it went by. The green ball destroyed the heads of the hammers and the train was safe for the moment. That was how Harry recognized the light. 

'Hey, Danny's ecto-gun thingies shoot something like that. Does that mean that that boy's a ghost?' Then he almost smacked himself. 'Gee, Harry, he's floating without any support, created a shield that blocked fire and a blast that took out two huge blocks of stone. I'd say that, yes, he's a ghost.'

Turning back to the action, Harry was just in time to see the boy—ghost—use his blasts to create a rough smiley face in the pale guy's hat. Harry barely listened to what the ghost said as he watched the ghost-boy go through impressive mid-air acrobatics to avoid the man's grasping hands. Even when the man managed to seemingly smash him between two huge hands, he simply floated up from between them, saying something about 'intangibility.'

Harry watched as the huge man finally got frustrated and swatted the ghost-boy out of the air. "If you think being a…ghost is so great, just watch me when_I'm_ a…ghost!" He did something, closing his cloak around himself. After a moment, he opened it and he was very different. His legs had become a kind of tail, his skin was green, and he suddenly had four arms. 

Down on the ground, the ghost-boy stared up at him, and muttered something about his job just getting easier. Before Harry could wonder about that, he picked up what looked like a soup canister and pointed it at the huge ghost. 

Said ghost was sucked inside, clawing at the ground to try and stop. It didn't work, and when he was sucked inside, something that looked like a really weird, elbow-length metal glove fell to the ground, resizing itself from huge to a more normal size.

Harry frowned as the scene froze. "Another lesson, huh?" There was an almost expectant silence, as he studied the frozen scene. "Okay, he was showing off, and making the big guy really frustrated." Once more, he began to pace. "Then the big guy did something, and he was a ghost." 

Turning, he considered the object in the ghost-boy's hands. After a long moment, he went closer and saw that he had been right. As far as he could tell, it was nothing more than something to hold soup. Admittedly, there were some strange designs on it, but still. 

Then Harry realized he was getting another odd sense of familiarity, like he had when the ghost-boy created a shield. He took a closer look at the thermos, and soon realized. "Oh! I see. Danny has a few things like that; he said something about them holding ghosts."

Harry frowned. "He couldn't use it while the guy was still human, so he forced him to turn into a ghost?" Turning once more, he saw the roller coaster, and remembered what that girl had said. "Something about 'ghost envy' and…'Use psychology.'" Harry blinked. "He tricked him?" Harry slowly nodded. "I see; he showed off so much that that guy got jealous, and turned himself into a ghost."

Looking around, Harry saw that the scene hadn't changed. "What, there's more?" Sighing, he considered it again. After a long moment he spoke, "Weakness. The guy's jealousy was his weakness, and that ghost-boy used it against him." Finally, the flash came, and the next scene was shown.

This time, the soundless flash led to a somewhat different scene. For one thing, the ghost wasn't there. It was Danny. A slightly younger, beat-up Danny, but it was still Danny. For another, the street was torn up and several buildings were rubble. It looked like some kind of war zone.

Danny had a frantic look on his face and looked exhausted, but he was running toward something, his hand outstretched. Turning, Harry stared. There, tied to a huge vat with some kind of glowing green rope, were six people. 

They were all staring desperately toward Danny, and he noticed what looked like some kind of temperature gauge. The needle was all the way to the right, buried in the red. Harry wasn't sure what it meant, except that whatever temperature it was measuring was dangerously hot. 

Following the people's gazes back to Danny, he saw that the other boy had tripped. He was staring desperately towards the people strapped to the vat, still trying to get up and get to them. 

Harry, not thinking about it, forced himself over to them and tried to free them. He was frustrated when he realized that here, he could affect nothing. As far as anything here was concerned, he didn't exist. 

Looking at the people once more, Harry's gaze caught on a specific person, a black-haired girl with violet eyes. Before he could remember where he'd seen her before, the vat exploded.

_End Dream Flashback_

Harry sighed softly. "That was really weird. First there was a boy flying, then the same boy being held by a flame woman, him fighting some really weird guy who could control everything. And finally, a vat exploding with people strapped to it while Danny is too far away to do anything. Why can't I ever have normal dreams?"

Danny's eyes widened as he heard Harry giving a rough description of his dream. Closing his eyes, he decided that he needed to hear more detail. Something told him this was important. 

Glad of the thick curtains around his bed, he changed to his Phantom form. Then he split himself into two. One went invisible, while the other returned to human. 'That's really useful sometimes. Especially when I need to be in two places at once.'

Sliding out of bed, Danny made sure to make enough noise to catch Harry's attention. Walking to the door, he made sure his footsteps were slightly audible, and just before he went down the stairs, he glanced over and met a pair of curious green eyes. He was all but verbally asking Harry to join him. 

Harry frowned when he heard the soft rustling of cloth that usually came when someone climbed out of bed, followed by quiet footsteps. Poking his head out of the curtains, he saw Danny glance over at him just before he went down the stairs.

Harry bit his lip in consideration. Being around him for a few months, Harry had quickly learned that Danny only made noise when he wanted to. Obviously he had meant to catch Harry's attention. Making his decision, he grabbed his wand before going downstairs. 

Danny heard the footsteps on the stairs and was glad Harry had decided to join him, but he didn't look up from staring into the fire. 

Harry took a moment to find Danny, curled up in a large chair in front of the fireplace. He seemed almost mesmerized by the fire, and Harry wondered if he should say something. Before he could, Danny spoke.

"Hey Harry." Danny smiled when he heard the hesitant steps to the other chair that faced the fire. 

Harry frowned. "Why did you want to talk to me?"

Danny shrugged. "I heard you wake up. I was just wondering what that was about."

Harry's frown deepened. He would have had to have some extremely good ears to hear that. "I had a weird dream. And for some reason, you were in the last part." Blinking, he realized what had been bothering him about the girl in the dream. "And so was your girlfriend."

Danny pulled his feet up and wrapped his arms around his knees. It was the farthest from a calm position Harry had ever seen him in. "Was there a huge vat that they were strapped to?"

Harry blinked and turned slightly to stare at him. "Yeah. How did you know?"

Danny shook his head. "It never happened. Not in this timeline. Clockwork made sure of that."

Harry frowned, really confused now. "If it never happened, how did I see it? And who's Clockwork?"

Danny tensed. He hated that memory, but there was nothing else but to explain. Otherwise, Harry would just be even more curious. "Clockwork is a friend of mine. He can basically control time and sees into the future. There was one future where Phantom ended up evil, all because my family, friends, and teacher were killed at the Nasty Burger. What you saw was just before the explosion."

Harry nodded. "Alright. But who's Phantom?"

Danny smiled slightly, much less tense. Sometimes it was good to think ahead. "Why don't you ask him?"

Before Harry could ask him what he meant, a pair of bright green eyes seemed to materialize not far from his face. "I wonder how you could see the past like that. Are you some kind of Seer?"

Harry yelped in surprise and jerked back. The eyes receded and he could see that they belonged to a boy with white hair and pale skin, wearing a black and white outfit and floating several inches off the ground. "You're a ghost."

Phantom bowed in midair. "Got it in one. Too bad I couldn't introduce myself earlier, but eh, this works." 

Harry blinked, trying to regain his scattered thoughts. "But you're solid."

Phantom shrugged. "Most of the ghosts I know are. Only ones that I've seen that aren't are here."

Harry blinked again, and finally managed to regain his scattered wits. "You're the one I saw before. But your outfit was different, and you looked younger."

Phantom waved a hand. "Not all ghosts age, but some do. I just happen to be one of them. And Sam was more than happy to convince me to wear something that wasn't hazmat." 

Phantom stood still in midair, so Harry could see the differences. He was wearing a somewhat loose pair of black jeans with a long chain attached and a white belt. His gloves were still white, but they were different. The cuff was much looser. 

His boots, while still white, were combat boots. He wore a nearly skin-tight black shirt with several narrow white belts at the upper arms. The final touch of the outfit was the same white symbol Harry had seen on his earlier outfit. On top of all that, his hair was longer, and gathered into a loose ponytail in back. 

Finally, Phantom interrupted Harry's study of his outfit. "Like what you see?" he asked teasingly. 

Harry immediately blushed and stammered, and both Phantom and Danny, who Harry had nearly forgotten about, laughed. Danny shook his head. "Don't worry about it; he's just messing with you."

Phantom shrugged. "Yeah, I'm perfectly straight, thanks. Anyway, let's move on before it gets too early."

Harry frowned in confusion. "Don't you mean too late?"

Danny shook his head and answered. "No, he means too early. It's after one already, and Phantom shouldn't be seen by anyone else."

Phantom shrugged. "I'm trying to keep a low profile. It makes things easier, and I don't have to worry about people asking questions." He shook himself. "Anyway, getting back on track. You saw the Nasty Burger incident, what else did you see?"

Harry blinked. "Uh, well the first was just you flying. Then there was one with this really weird woman holding you who seemed to be made of flame, a freaky pale guy who was huge and seemed to be controlling everything and last was the, uh, Nasty Burger one."

Danny leaned forward slightly. "Well, the flame woman was Spectra." He and Phantom both shuddered. "Not real strong, but she's nasty."

Harry frowned and tilted his head at the identical reactions. "What do you mean?"

Phantom flipped over and began to pace upside down. Watching him, Harry had a slight vertigo. "Have you ever met someone who seemed to love making people miserable?"

Harry considered that for a moment before slowly nodding. "Sort of. I mean, my cousin Dudley likes to make everyone in the neighbor hood afraid of him."

Phantom nodded. "Alright, imagine a psychiatrist who loves to make people miserable." 

Danny picked it up. "Now imagine that psychiatrist needs to feed on misery and doubt to keep from aging." 

Harry frowned. "Keep from aging? But everything ages." He glanced up at Phantom. "Well, most things."

Danny smiled, having caught the glance. "Yeah, well Spectra was a ghost. If she didn't feed regularly, she could get wrinkles in just a few hours. If she left it too long, she'd become an old, bent woman. And she hated the idea of giving up her youth."

Harry imagined all this and winced. "All right, I'll agree that she's nasty. But how do you know her?"

Danny shrugged. "She was a psychiatrist. Someone decided that the school needed one." Danny decided not to tell him about the thing with the bugs. It would bring up too many questions. 

Harry wanted to ask more, but something about Danny's body language said that that discussion was over. Glancing up at Phantom, who had decided to perch on the wall above the fireplace, he saw that it was just as final with him. Figuring that if he pushed it they would refuse to answer any more, he decided to change the subject. "What about the huge pale guy?"

Danny and Phantom exchanged a glance. Phantom decided to take that one. "That was Freakshow. Probably about the time he had the Reality Gauntlet, if he was so big. Once he had all the jewels, he used it to change the world so he was in control." 

Harry shook his head in confusion. "Wait a minute. Reality Gauntlet? Jewels? What are you talking about?"

Phantom laughed. "Sorry, I forgot you didn't know about any of that. The Reality Gauntlet was something that could be used to control reality. There were three jewels needed to use it, the Gems of Life, Form, and Fantasy. The Gem of Life could bring anything to life. The Gem of Form could change the shape of anything, and the Gem of Fantasy could…um, I don't know how to explain it." He looked a bit embarrassed about it.

Danny grinned. "It might be easier to give him an example." Turning back to Harry, he started to explain. "Okay, soon after he first had the gauntlet and everything, he used the Gems of Life and Form on a cloud. The Gem of Form made it kind of man-shaped, and the Gem of Life brought it to life, so it fell out of the sky on a pair of idiot ghost hunters."

Harry shook his head. "Wait, ghost hunters? You mean there are people who hunt ghosts?"

Danny nodded. "Yep."

Phantom rolled his eyes. "Those two were from the government, called the Guys in White. They're usually more concerned with keeping their suits clean than anything else."

Danny nodded. "Yeah, but anyway. The Gem of Fantasy ended up at a comic book convention. It turned three geeks into the characters they were dressed as."

Phantom rolled his eyes again. "Unfortunately for me, they were all dressed up as super villains, so I had to fight them."

Danny nodded. Without changing his tone, he calmly asked a question. "Hey Phantom, how long has Hermione been listening?" 

There was a squeak from the stairs and Harry twisted around, startled. Phantom was fairly calm though. "Eh, just before Harry asked about Freakshow."

Danny nodded. "Yeah, thought so."

Phantom snorted. "Then why'd you ask?"

Danny smirked. "'Cause I don't have direct line of sight to the stairs." In a way, he wasn't lying. The line of sight he had wasn't exactly what somebody would call 'direct'.

Phantom rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, yeah." Flying over to the stairs, he bowed to Hermione. "Care to join us?"

Danny grinned and spoke up without ever turning around. "Come on, Mione. We don't have classes tomorrow, so we won't have to worry about falling asleep in them. You might as well join now so you can both tell Ron about it in the morning." 

Unknown to either Harry or Hermione, he could effectively look through Phantom's eyes, since he was just an extension of Danny himself. 'Probably a good thing I've had practice acting like two different people. Hermione would notice if I screwed up. Though her face at the moment is priceless.'

Harry blinked. "How did you know I'd tell Ron and Hermione?"

Danny shrugged. "I've been around you three for a few months now. Unless you honestly can't, you three seem to tell each other everything."

Hermione finally came down the stairs and settled into another chair. "I only came down because I woke up and thought I heard something down here. What are you doing in the common room so early in the morning?" 

Harry glanced at both Danny and Phantom, but neither one seemed inclined to explain. He sighed and told Hermione about the dream, waking up from it and hearing Danny move around, coming down soon after, and getting some explanation for what he'd seen.

Hermione looked between them, and found it a bit eerie to stare at Phantom's green eyes, which she was sure were glowing. "What do you mean, his outfit's different?" she asked Harry while gesturing at Phantom. 

Phantom rolled his eyes. "I'm right here, you know." She blushed and stammered an apology, but he waved it off. "Eh, it doesn't matter. Anyway, my other outfit was a lot different. I think the only things that stayed the same are the color scheme and my symbol."

Danny rolled his eyes. "He went to Sam when he asked. Since she was the one to come up with the symbol in the first place, she wanted to make sure he kept it."

Phantom shot him an annoyed look, but went back to explaining. "Anyway, my old outfit was just a black jumpsuit with white boots, belt, gloves, and collar." He reached up and traced a circle that covered his collarbones and went back over his shoulders to show her what he meant. 

Hermione blinked. Studying his outfit for a moment, she blinked again. "Is there some reason you have the chain, or is it just decoration?"

Danny laughed, while Phantom rolled his eyes. "You'd be surprised how many ghosts don't expect to be belted with a length of chain. The funny part is that they sometimes wonder where I got it from." Glancing around, he wondered, "What time is it, anyway?"

Danny cast a quiet_Tempus_ and blinked at the result. "It's almost three in the morning."

Phantom stretched in a way that made both Harry and Hermione wince. "Well then, I'd better be off. Even I need to rest, and it's been a long day." He turned towards the stairs and went invisible. 

Danny subtly relaxed once he no longer had to maintain the split. 'Now that I know how, it really doesn't take much power. It's being seen as two different people and having to keep my concentration during a conversation that's the hard part.'

Danny rolled his shoulders and settled more comfortably into the chair. Or at least, it was comfortable to him. Judging by the looks on their faces, it didn't look like it to Harry and Hermione.

Hermione shook her head. She had walked in on Danny in some strange positions—draped upside-down over the back of the couch for example—but she still wasn't used to it. Seeing him lying diagonally across the chair with his feet up at the corner of the back and arm and his head hanging from the opposite corner was something that didn't look at all comfortable, but he looked like he could fall asleep.

Danny blinked as they continued to stare at him. "What?"

Harry shook his head. "How can you sit like that?"

Danny shrugged as well as he could from his position. "It's comfortable."

Hermione shook her head. "It doesn't _look_ comfortable."

Danny shrugged again. "Then don't try it. Doesn't matter to me." He stared into the fire, which looked somewhere between upside down and sideways, and said nothing more.

Harry yawned, and Hermione couldn't hold back an answering yawn. "Well, classes or not, it would be best to go back to bed," she announced. Standing up, she started to go, but paused when Danny made no move to follow. "Aren't you coming?"

Danny grinned. "Well, if you _want_ to take me up to the girl's dorm, you can, but I think Sam would object."

Hermione snorted while Harry snickered. She had walked right into that one. "Not what I meant. Are you going back to bed?"

Danny waved a hand. "Maybe later. I'm just going to stay here a while. Goodnight."

Hermione hesitated briefly, but Harry shook his head. "Come on, it doesn't really matter. It _is_ a Saturday, technically. He can just sleep in." Hermione sighed and nodded agreement. 

Danny ignored them both, seemingly mesmerized by the fire's leaping light and warmth. 

Some time after he was left alone, Danny shifted so he could sit upright in the chair, not once taking his eyes from the fire. It _was_ mesmerizing in a way, and he saw no reason to leave it. After all, he was cold often enough since his ice powers developed. He liked to find warmth where he could.

Danny snorted softly at his own thoughts. 'It's kind of weird how I'm not that affected by temperature. Course, that's probably because I'm half-ghost. Unless it gets really cold, I don't notice the cold. Unless it gets really warm, I don't always notice heat. It's kind of nice to feel it here.'

His eyes drooped closed, and he let himself slip into sleep with a final, idle thought. 'I have a feeling I'm going to stay near the fire a lot while I'm here.'

_(break)_

AN: Okay, I've got my brother rambling on about something or other behind me, so I won't write as much as usual. I know there are some people out there who are just saying 'darn, why couldn't she write more.' Yeah. It could happen. And my brother is being weirder than usual. The weird part is that he has a 'usual' weirdness level. Blah. Whatever. Anyway, yes, I know. It's only one night. And don't even ask where that dream came from or if they'll be more. I have no idea, it was just something my brain spat up and bugged me with. Lovely imagery, I know.

P.S. My brother has asked to tell you about the time he says a certain phrase that made me crack up. Middle of summer, humidity through the roof, me lying across two couch arms in front of a fan and Josh on the larger couch face down. Out of nowhere he says, "I am a cocunut I have a round head." Yes, this was mostly to shut my brother up. You can shut up now, Josh.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I'm not rich, and I can't draw anything anywhere near recognizable. You figure it out.

_(break)_

Chapter 10

The next morning, Harry glanced around and realized that the others weren't up yet. Shrugging, Harry climbed out of bed and checked the time. 'Gah, it's only nine?' He sighed. 'Oh, well. Might as well get up.' Quickly, Harry got dressed and went down to the common room. 

Hermione was already down there, and she was staring at one of the chairs with something like a combination of exasperation and amusement. Harry blinked as he realized that it was the same one that Danny had been in before, during their late night/ early morning meeting. 

Hermione glanced up at him and motioned him over, putting a finger to her lips when he started to say something. Harry blinked, shrugged, and did as he was told. Looking, he saw a sight that immediately explained Hermione's amusement.

Danny was in a position very similar to one he had seen Crookshanks in during a rare moment of relaxation. Danny was half on his back and had his arms folded across his stomach. His head was turned toward the fire, and his legs were curled up. He was literally half on his back, because from roughly the waist up he was on his back, and from the waist down he was on his side. 

Harry considered for a long moment, trying not to laugh. Then he had a wicked idea. "Think we should get a camera?" The reaction was immediate.

Danny was slowly drifting awake, aware that someone was standing over him, but also aware that it wasn't an enemy. His only human 'enemies' were the jocks at school, and all ghosts set off his ghost sense. Since he didn't sleep at school and his ghost sense hadn't gone off, it wasn't an enemy. Danny was vaguely aware of being in a position that Sam had once said gave her a crick in the neck just looking at him, but he didn't care. 

Danny was just starting to drift off to sleep, when he heard six words that immediately made him figuratively sit up and take notice. "Think we should get a camera?" 

Of course, literally Danny was in no position to 'sit up and take notice.' The best he could do was let out a loud yelp as he fell head first off the chair, barely managing to keep from hitting his head on the floor by throwing out his arms. A moment later, his legs followed, and Danny winced as he banged a knee against the stone floor. 'That's gonna hurt later.'

Glaring up at Harry and Hermione, who were staring at him, he told them. "You are _not_ going to get a picture of me sleeping in some weird position!" Climbing to his feet, he dusted off his knees and muttered under his breath, "Bad enough mom does it so much."

Stalking off with as much dignity as he could manage while blushing and limping slightly, Danny hoped they wouldn't take that as a challenge.

As soon as Danny was out of sight, Harry grinned evilly. Hermione gave him a wary look. "Mione, don't the twins sell those little Wizarding cameras, for recording really good pranks?"

Hermione stared at him. "Harry!" Despite herself, Hermione was seriously considering the idea. "I think so, but how many would we need?"

Harry grinned. When she wanted to be, Hermione could be just as mischievous as him. "Oh, just three. No reason to get more than that, after all." Hermione just shook her head, but part of her was intrigued by the idea.

_(break)_

Upstairs, Danny quickly got dressed. Once he was done, he once more dug through his trunk for a moment before he found what he was looking for. Grumbling softly, Danny pulled out a small towel. He didn't know how it had gotten there, but he'd found it with his stuff that he'd gotten from home. It was probably just Jazz being weird again.

Climbing into his bed and closing the curtains, he carefully used his ice powers to form a bunch of small ice cubes on the towel and pressed the make-shift compress to his right knee, which he'd landed on wrong. It was already beginning to swell up.

Neville yawned as he woke up. Glancing around, his gaze landed on a bed that hadn't been there last year. It took him a moment to remember. 'Oh, yeah. We got a new student.' Neville heard a hiss of pain, and decided to get up and see what was going on.

Danny frowned as he heard movement coming towards his bed, and pulled himself up carefully so that he could dive to either side if he had to. 

Neville paused just beyond the bed, trying to remember the guy's name. "Danny? You okay?"

Danny blinked, startled. "Yeah, I'm fine." He poked his head out of the curtains, keeping his icepack against his knee. "Why'd you ask?"

Neville frowned as he noticed the way Danny was positioned. "I just heard you and wondered what was going on. Did something happen to your knee?"

Danny frowned. 'Should have known. He's one of Harry's roommates, and a friend as well. Of course he'd notice something.' "I fell out of a chair and landed on it wrong. It's nothing."

Neville rolled his eyes and without thinking about it reached out and grabbed Danny's wrist to pull him along. "You'd better let Madame Pomfrey look at it, anyway. It could get worse."

Danny rolled his eyes, but tossed the compress back onto his bed. He didn't want whoever Madame Pomfrey was—probably the school nurse or Healer—ask where exactly he had gotten ice while he was in his dorm room. "You do this to Harry a lot, don't you?"

Neville blushed, but forged straight on through the Common Room. Harry and Hermione were in a corner, probably planning something. "Not a lot, Ron and Hermione are usually the ones to drag him off to the Hospital Wing, but all his friends do it sometimes."

Danny rolled his eyes and easily slipped his wrist out of Neville's grip. "Despite the resemblance, I'm not him. You can just show me where it is." 'Besides, something like that will be good to know.'

Neville blushed again, and started off toward the Hospital Wing. "Sorry."

Danny shrugged. "'Sokay. I understand the reasoning. I just don't like being dragged around."

On the way there, Danny couldn't help looking around. There was just so _much_ magic here! He unconsciously walked beside Neville, idly noticing that he felt a bit like some of the plants Hermione had beat into his head while trying to teach him Herbology.

Neville watched him look around, and blinked when he saw Danny step over a trick stair without seeming to notice. He watched a bit closer, and when Neville went toward a trick door, Danny walked with him without hesitation, even though it was well hidden. Finally, he spoke. "You can sense magic, can't you?"

Danny started, and glanced over at Neville. He had almost forgotten the other boy was there, simply following the nearest route to a place that seemed filled with healing magic. "What?" Neville repeated the question, and Danny blinked. "Huh. You're the first to notice. Or realize, actually. How'd you know?" He tilted his head curiously, and Neville was reminded of a curious fox.

Neville gestured behind him as Danny, slightly in the lead, opened the door in front of them. "You skipped a trick step without seeming to notice and you just led the way to the Hospital Wing like you've been here for years."

Danny glanced back and blushed slightly as he realized Neville was right. "Ah, right. Could you not tell? I like letting people figure out things about me without help." He grinned. "More fun that way."

Neville shook his head but agreed. "Madame Pomfrey should be out soon."

Just then, a rather stern-looking woman came out. "I'm right here, Mr. Longbottom. How'd you manage to land in the Hospital Wing your first day back?"

Danny laughed. "Well, you're popular." He quickly hopped up on the nearest bed. It didn't hurt to walk, but he didn't like the way his knee was swelling up, either.

Neville blushed. "Clumsy. I mostly get sent from Potions." Turning to Madame Pomfrey, he answered her question. "I'm not the one who needs to be here, Madame Pomfrey. I was just showing Danny the way." 'Even though he didn't really need it…

Madame Pomfrey bore down on Danny, and Danny had to try hard not to flinch as she immediately waved a diagnostic charm over him. "Hmm, nasty bruise, slight swelling. You came down on this hard, young man. You must be the new student; I'd remember that much scarring on one of my patients."

Danny winced at the reminder of all the scars he'd gotten ghost hunting. "Ah, yeah." Before he could go on, Madame Pomfrey swept off for a potion. Danny shook his head. "Is she always like that?"

Neville shrugged. "Not really, she's probably just annoyed that it's the first day back and someone's already here." He wanted to ask him about the scars Pomfrey had mentioned, but decided not to. No telling if he'd get annoyed or simply clam up and refuse to answer.

Madame Pomfrey swept back in and handed Danny a potion. "Drink all of that. And I have to congratulate you, Mr. Fenton. You've broken the record of being the first student of the year to come to the Hospital Wing."

Danny blushed, but considered the potion for a moment, sniffed it, and finally took a sip. He made a face at the taste, but since it didn't seem harmful, he forced himself to slug it back. "Blech. Let me guess, the taste keeps people from taking too much."

Madame Pomfrey smiled slightly. "There is that. And, of course, Severus—Professor Snape to you—has never seen the point in making his potions taste good."

Danny rolled his eyes and absently rubbed his knee. It took him a moment to realize there was no pain. "Huh. That stuff's fast." He gently explored the area and it didn't take long to find that the swelling was gone, and the only pain he felt was when he pressed the spot below his kneecap where he'd landed. From what he could tell, he probably still had an impressive bruise, but that was it. 

Madame Pomfrey raised an eyebrow at his casual assessment of his own injuries, but knew better than to ask. She decided to wait until she could catch him alone. "Be careful with that until tomorrow. If you manage to bang your knee again, it will take a bit more than a potion to fix it." Without another word, she calmly swept back to her office.

Danny smirked and got down from the hospital bed. 'Oh, I'll be careful. In fact, I'll just fly around until I find something interesting.' He felt a slight warning coming from his midsection and quickly amended that thought. 'After breakfast.'

Neville led the way out of the Hospital Wing. "Well, do you want a tour or something? There aren't really any classes until Monday, so today and tomorrow are pretty much our only real free days." When he didn't get an answer, Neville turned to look, but Danny was gone. He blinked. 'How'd he do that? There aren't any secret passages around here, and as far as I know he didn't have anything to turn him invisible.'

Danny smirked and used his intangibility to sink into a wall, just in case. There, he changed to his Phantom form, the bright light hidden by stone. 'Better find that Great Hall place. Then I can explore.' 

Keeping himself invisible, Danny flew up so that he was just below the ceiling and stretched out his senses to get a better feel for the place. It didn't take him long to find the Great Hall, and he quickly landed outside and sunk into the stone once more to change. Coming out, he made sure that nobody was around before slowly fading in and walking into the large room.

Danny quickly ate his breakfast and slipped out before anyone came over to talk to him. 'Might as well have fun with this while I can. I'll just be another ghost haunting the school.' He changed and flew invisibly to the ceiling, letting the laughter he felt bubbling up echo through the halls. 

Many heard the eerie laughter, which seemed to have its own echo to add to that created when it traveled the halls. Everybody decided that it must have been a ghost, though they had never heard laughter like that before. Only two people knew for sure who it must be. 

Hermione hissed in frustration. "Come _on_, Ron. You have to hear about this, and we can't tell you here!"

Ron sighed. "Fine, 'Mione. Just a minute." He grabbed a piece of toast and calmly buttered it, but before he got a chance to eat it, Hermione was hauling him out of his seat and out of the Great Hall. 

Harry followed behind, knowing better than to protest. Hauling all her books around made Hermione very strong, and she'd have no problem hauling him off as well as Ron. 'Sometimes I hate being short.'

_(break)_

Some time after, Danny was beginning to think he'd really like this place. 'So much magic is going to be distracting, though. I'll have to explore now, or I'll never be able to concentrate in class.' He flew down around the dungeons and found both the Potions classroom and the Slytherin Common Room. 'Yeesh. That hat said I could fit in down here, but I'm glad it put me in Gryffindor. Even the magic feels stifling down here. And it's cold.' 

Rubbing his arms, Danny left quickly. It wasn't just a physical cold, the magic itself made him feel cold. He wasn't sure what to make of it, and if he tried to explain it he knew he wouldn't be able to, but Danny decided that he would do his best to avoid the Slytherin Common Room.

Finally, he decided that it was time to take care of something else. Closing his eyes and focusing for a moment, he soon honed in on Harry's magic, which was easier to find than Ron's or Hermione's. 

Following the trail amid all the magic of Hogwarts wasn't easy, but Danny knew what he was looking for and it didn't take him long. As he had thought, Harry and Hermione had managed to grab Ron and were telling him about the night before. 

Harry shook his head. "So anyway, I go down to the common room and Danny's there. He tells me some stuff, and explains that the guy I saw was Phantom. I asked him who Phantom was, and he said—"

Danny took his cue. "'Why don't you ask him yourself?'" He became visible seemingly lounging against the wall near the ceiling. "Hey, Harry. Spreading tales?" He glanced around the small room, which looked like the three had taken over. Poking at the magic with his senses, he smiled. 'Thought so. Weird, it's like its changing. Huh? Aaah.' The magic seemed to become warmer, and Danny relaxed as the last of the chill from the Slytherin Common Rooms was banished. "What is this place, anyway?"

All three jumped and stared at him when he first spoke. Ron let out a surprised, "Bloody hell…" Hermione was too surprised to notice, but she was also the first to recover. "How'd you get in here? The door's locked and no one else is supposed to know about it but some friends of ours. And it's the Room of Requirement."

Danny shrugged. 'Room of Requirement?' "Well, unless you've got some way of keeping a ghost out, locks don't do much good." He twisted upside down and stretched, looking down at them from that angle. "And just because you never realized I was there doesn't mean I never took the time to figure out the feel of your magic."

Harry blinked. "You can sense our magic? How?"

Danny shrugged. "Course I can. So can Danny. Make's it easier to find you and all that."

Ron shook off the shock he felt at seeing the strangely solid ghost. "But how do you do it?"

Danny shrugged. "I honestly don't know. I didn't quite realize what it was at first. When Snape and Dumbledore were in Amity Park, Dumbledore was setting off warning bells, but we didn't know why. Wasn't until we were around you guys for a while that it clicked." He came down and hovered roughly in front of them, looking like he was sitting cross-legged in mid-air. "Though it did explain why Danny said Mr.-er Professor Lupin reminded him of Wulf."

The trio blinked. They had almost forgotten that. Then Hermione shook her head in frustration. "But _how_ did you hide so well? We never even suspected that you were there!"

Danny smirked and turned invisible and intangible. While the three looked around and tried to find him, he flew up behind Hermione. "Wouldn't you like to know?" he whispered in her ear.

Hermione shrieked in surprise and whirled toward him, but Danny was already back where he'd been before. By the time Hermione had stopped looking around wildly, trying to figure out where he was and Ron and Harry had managed to calm her, he looked like he'd never moved an 

inch. "I've been like this for years. Keeping out of the sight of people who never even suspected I was there was easy."

Hermione opened and closed her mouth, obviously trying to figure out what to say. Danny smirked. "Well, if everybody else could see you now. Smartest witch of her class, speechless." Hermione growled and looked like she might lunge at him. He smirked and turned invisible once more. "Bye now."

Danny turned intangible and floated up to the ceiling, watching with amusement as Hermione tried to find him. 'Better go make an appearance as Fenton. Don't want them to suspect anything.'

Danny had been exploring for long enough that it was closer to lunch time than breakfast. He flew to an empty corridor that was fairly close to the Great Hall, and transformed back to human, though he stayed invisible. Glancing around to make sure no one was there, he slowly became visible, walking out of a shadow. It probably would have looked very strange to an observer, but Danny didn't really care.

Danny calmly slipped into the Great Hall and sat down near where he'd sat earlier. There were only a few other students, since lunch hadn't officially started yet. Watching the door, Danny smiled as he saw the trio come in. 

Hermione looked rather frazzled and frustrated, and the other two were keeping their distance and acting cautious of her. 'Well, at least she won't be taking her frustration out on me. I won't give her an excuse.' He smirked. 'Better yet, I can rile her up worse and watch her try to hex a ghost.'

Danny was just trying to figure out how to manage that, when a large owl flew down from the rafters. Danny blinked as it landed in front of him. "What the…?_I_ got a letter?"

The owl stuck its leg out arrogantly, practically ordering him to take the letter tied to it. Danny rolled his eyes, but did as he was told. "Yeah, yeah, keep your feathers straight. Geez, you remind me of Vlad…" 

He absently glanced at the front of the envelope, and sucked in a startled breath when he saw who it was from. His head whipped up, but the owl was already flying away, apparently at top speed. Danny stared after it, practically growling. He barely managed to keep his eyes from glowing a shade of green never seen in humans.

Harry glanced over at Danny, and his eyes widened when he saw how angry the other boy looked. Without thinking, he reached over and grabbed Hermione, who had been going toward him, probably wanting to complain about Phantom. "Mione, it might not be a good idea to talk to Danny right now."

Hermione glanced up, and saw the way Danny was practically glaring a hole into the envelope he held. "When did he get that? Mail was supposed to come this morning." She strode over, obviously intending to ask. Ron shrugged and followed her. Harry felt like tearing out his hair. 'Why do I seem to be the only Gryffindor with self-preservation instincts?'

Danny looked up when he heard steps coming near him and glared at Hermione. She looked surprised, and he glanced down. 'Well, might as well see what 'dear old Vladdie' wants.' He snorted softly and tore open the envelope. He had already checked, and there didn't seem to be any booby traps on it.

_Daniel, _

_I hope this letter finds you in good health. But then, I have heard that the healer at your new school was one of the best. _

_By the way, how do you like Hogwarts? Before you ask, I have known about the magical world for some time. After all, I am a businessman, and there is quite a bit of …business to find in the magical world. I found out where you had gone quite recently. Your parents were talking about how you had gone, and wondering what you would learn while you are there. _

_I look forward to your answer to this letter, Daniel, but if you are unable to send one, I understand. I will simply instruct Cassius to wait for a reply next time. I warned him that it might not be a good idea to stay once you found out who the letter was from._

_Vlad Masters_

_P.S. I do hope you won't be letting the skills you learned in Amity Park go to waste._

Danny was practically growling by the time he read the P.S. Once he did, he stared. 'He wouldn't. Not even Vlad would do something that stupid.' He dropped his head down on the table. 'Ah, hell, who am I kidding? Of course he would.'

Danny didn't need to look up to see that Ron, Harry, and Hermione were watching him. Abruptly, he stood up and started to walk away. 

Hermione frowned after Danny. "Aren't you going to eat?" she asked, surprised. 

Danny shook his head. "I've suddenly lost my appetite."

Hermione frowned, but decided not to go after him. In the three months she had known him so far, she had realized two things. One was that she knew very little about Danny that wasn't related to the tutoring she'd given him. The second was that, when he wanted to be, Danny could be extremely stubborn.

Danny stalked out, glad that Hermione had decided not to nag. 'I don't know what I'd do if she went into some kind of mother hen mode. Probably shoot her.'

Danny shook his head, trying to dismiss the thought. Unfortunately, it left room for thoughts of Vlad's letter to creep in, and that was just as bad, if not worse. Sighing, he found the nearest door to the outside, using only his ability to sense magic to find his way. Once he was outside, he strode down to the lake and took off the cumbersome robe he had to wear as part of the school dress code. He also took off his shirt, knowing that it would soon be soaked with sweat if he didn't.

Settling into a familiar stance, Danny lost himself in the movement of his staff and body. He wouldn't get anywhere trying to figure Vlad out. It hadn't worked before, and he doubted it would work now. 

His movements sped up, and soon he was really getting into it. Danny felt a small smile form on his face, feeling better already. In its own way, practicing like this was a bit like meditation for him. It calmed him, and he could always think a little easier by the time he was done. It was something he desperately needed right then. 'I'll have to talk to everybody later. Find out what's happening at home…'

Lavender and Parvati had been outside, talking dreamily about boys, when they saw the new guy walk out. He seemed angry, and they glanced at each other, trying to figure out if they should leave. Then Danny took off his robe, and they decided to stay a little longer. His shirt followed, and they drooled. 

Glancing at Parvati, Lavender smirked. "I never would have thought he'd be so…built."

Parvati nodded in agreement. "And he's got all those scars. But they make him look really hot."

Lavender nodded agreement, and a wicked thought crossed her mind. "Do you remember the Summoning charms?"

Parvati's eyes widened, but before she could say anything, Lavender had already summoned Danny's robe. Not to be outdone, Parvati summoned his shirt. "No reason not to enjoy it for as long as possible." 

Lavender grinned and they settled in for a long wait. "Besides, the other girls would kill us if they knew we didn't take this opportunity." 

Danny sensed the touch of magic, but since it wasn't directed at him, he ignored it. He'd regret that, once he remembered where he'd felt that particular flavor of magic before. But for now, he was oblivious, lost in movement.

_(break)_

AN: Okay, I was going to get this out yesterday, but I decided that there were a few things I needed to fix, and I wrote a bit more, and here you go. I hope it was worth the (slight) delay. Another thing, I've hurt my knee like I had Danny do, and it is not fun. But I needed an excuse to send him to the Hospital Wing (or anywhere, actually, but that was convenient.) and have Neville figure out that he senses magic. And later, Danny jokes to himself about haunting Hogwarts. And we finally show signs of a plot! And it only took ten chapters. Go figure._  
_


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: Not mine, which is probably a good thing. I wouldn't be surprised if Danny was tempted to hurt me for this one.

_(break)_

Chapter 11

After lunch was over, Harry and Hermione went out to see if they could find Danny. "Well, whenever he didn't have to be around anyone, or didn't want to, he went somewhere to practice, didn't he?" Hermione suggested calmly. 

Harry nodded. "Yeah. The weather's nice, maybe we should check outside."

Hermione turned and led the way to the closest door leading outside. It didn't take them long to find the right one. When they glanced around, they saw movement down by the lake and had to stare.

Danny cut an impressive form practicing. His staff was moving almost too fast to see, and a fine sheen of sweat had formed all over his body. Since he was shirtless, the muscles normally hidden by his clothing were obvious, as were the many scars.

Stepping forward a bit, almost mesmerized, Hermione called, "Danny?"

Hearing his name, Danny whirled toward the source and had his staff pointed at Hermione's throat before he realized who it was. As soon as he did, he pulled it away and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Uh, sorry about that. You surprised me." He was panting and felt much calmer than he had earlier. 

Hermione nodded, slightly wide-eyed as she rubbed her throat. "Ah, right. Sorry. Won't happen again."

Danny nodded sheepishly and glanced around, looking for his clothes. They weren't where he'd tossed them, and he blinked and looked a bit more. Finally, the others spoke. 

Ron stared. "Where's your shirt, mate? And what happened to you, anyway?"

Danny shrugged. "I don't know and my family hunts ghosts." He moved away, trying to figure out where they were. Finally, he tried to see if he could sense his own faint signature that was imprinted on all his clothing once he'd worn it for a while. It didn't work. "Great, where are they? Heck, at this point I'd settle for either one!"

He paused and then suddenly stalked off in a random direction. The trio couldn't figure out what that was about, but they quickly followed.

Lavender and Parvati saw Danny coming their way. With a startled glance at each other, they tried to scramble away.

Danny saw the movement, and whistled shrilly. A loud screech from above announced the presence of Tobias, and he whistled again. A moment later, Tobias dived toward the girls, and they scrambled out of hiding, shrieking fearfully. 

Danny was immediately in front of them, blocking off escape. "Alright, where are they?"

The two tried to look innocent, but it was rather hard when they felt intimidated by him. They _had_ seen how fast he was, after all. Of course, that wasn't the only reason they couldn't act innocent. Lavender shook her head. "Where are what? We were just admiring the view." She couldn't stop her eyes from roaming over his body, making it obvious which view she meant. 

Danny rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, trying to hide his discomfort at being checked out so blatantly. He didn't need to look back to see the trio come up behind him. "My clothes." 

Parvati's eyes widened. "Um! We were going to return them, it was just a joke!" 

Danny leaned forward and looked her directly in the eye. "Where. Are. They?"

Intimidated, Parvati gestured helplessly behind her. Danny moved past, but she couldn't move for a long moment. 'Man, he's hot!'

Danny scooped up his shirt and pulled it on, very aware of the gazes of the two girls. 'How am I going to get back at them? Hmmm, I'll have to think about it.' The robe came next, and he knew he wasn't imagining the protesting whimpers coming from two different throats. 'Shit. This is going to end badly, I just know it.' 

Later, Danny would look back on that moment and realize just how badly he had underestimated that one. For now, he was simply trying to plan a suitable revenge. If only he'd had telepathy instead of the ability to sense magic.

As soon as they were moving away, Parvati leaned over toward Lavender. "Are there any cameras we can set up somewhere?"

Lavender nodded, watching Danny even though the bulky robe kept them from seeing anything of interest. "I think the Weasley twins sell some. I heard Harry say something about it earlier."

Parvati glanced at her before returning her gaze to Danny. "Is that safe?"

Lavender thought about it for a moment. "Probably not. But I don't know where else we'd get some."

Danny was more than halfway to the castle before he'd had enough of the gazes on him. Whirling around, he yelled, "Would you stop undressing me with your eyes!"

Parvati spoke without thinking. "Well, we could do it literally, but this isn't the best spot for it." (1) Beside her, Lavender burst out in giggles, causing Parvati to blush as she realized what she'd said.

Danny fought the blush rising in his cheeks as he walked as fast as he could to the castle, leaving the other three to rush after him. 'I am _so_ glad that wasn't loud enough for them to hear.' 

Hermione was trying very hard to keep from laughing, but it wasn't working very well. 'I _so_ have to tell Ginny about this.'

Harry was grinning too, half in humor and half in relief. 'Well, at least I'm not the only one anymore.'

Ron simply laughed. "You do realize that's going to be all over school by tomorrow, don't you?"

Danny lost his fight with the blush, and since Ron had long enough legs to keep up somewhat, he caught it. "Don't start." He glared over at Ron, but it was hard to be intimidating when your face felt like it was on fire, and Ron didn't seem affected. He laughed instead.

_(break)_

Ron was right. By the next day, everybody in the school had heard about it, and Danny was having a hard time keeping himself from turning invisible in sheer embarrassment. Danny would have happily skipped breakfast, but Harry, Ron, Neville, Ginny, and Hermione helped to practically drag him out of the boys' dorm. Hermione had steamrolled the others into helping and practically frog-marched Danny halfway to the Great Hall before he gave in. 

"Alright, alright! I'll go. Anything to avoid coming into the Great Hall at wand-point." He grumbled and shook her off. While she hadn't held him at wand-point, it had been close. 

Hermione smiled sweetly. "Oh, don't worry. I thought you might give in. You took a bit longer than I'd have thought, but it doesn't matter."

Danny glared at her. "If I didn't know it was impossible, I'd say you've been talking to my sister." He slipped out of reach, but kept ahead, not knowing what Hermione would do if he fell behind.

Ginny glanced up at him with an amused grin. "How'd you get roped into this, Neville?"

Neville blushed slightly. "Hermione's persuasive. That's all I'm going to say."

Ginny laughed. "So, did you hear about what happened yesterday?"

Neville grinned and the blush faded. "Your brother has a big mouth." Ignoring the protest from Ron he continued, "He was telling the whole common room about it." 

Danny stared straight ahead, fighting a blush. The blush was winning. Walking a bit faster, he was soon in the Great Hall. Unfortunately, that wasn't necessarily a good thing. He froze in the entrance when what felt like every eye in the room turned toward him. For someone who had practically been an outcast at his last school, it was extremely intimidating. He barely conquered the urge to either run or turn invisible. 

Hermione rolled her eyes and pulled Danny toward the Gryffindor table. He quickly chose a spot on the very end, with his back to the wall. The others surrounded him and sat down, knowing he'd be mobbed otherwise. 

Ginny grinned. "Don't tell me you've never had to deal with a lot of people being attracted to you."

Danny shook his head, warily watching the rest of the students. The teachers had gone back to their meal and conversations, thankfully, as had most of the guys and some of the girls. The rest were watching him. And whispering to each other, too. "Nope. Sam, Tuck, and I were kind of outcasts. Bottom of the social ladder and all that." He ate quickly, wanting to get out of there. 

The others glanced at each other in surprise. Danny had never really mentioned what his other school had been like. Hermione was the one to pounce. "Why were you outcasts, then?"

Danny shrugged, calming slightly. "Casper's a big football-type school, and there are a lot of jocks and cheerleaders. Tucker's a techno-geek, and Sam's a Goth. And I was just the puny loser with freaky parents." When he continued eating, it was a bit slower than before, since he knew that he probably wouldn't be allowed to leave until at least some of their curiosity was taken care of. 

Neville glanced at the others, and decided to ask. "I've heard of football from Seamus, but what are those other things?"

Danny blinked. "Oh, right. Sorry, I forgot. Anyway, a jock is somebody who plays a lot of sports. A cheerleader, well, they basically cheer at games. Tuck probably has any kind of technology you can think of, and Sam wears a lot of dark clothing and has a…different outlook on life."

He grinned at their confused looks. "Example: whenever Sam wears a bathing suit, she'll wear a cape to protect herself from the sun. Whenever Tucker or I ask if she gets sweaty in all that, she tells us 'Goths don't sweat, we simmer.'" He managed to imitate the tone she usually used, and they all snickered. 

Ginny glanced up and blinked. Nearly every girl in the room was whispering and staring toward Danny. There was also something else a bit strange. 'Nearly everyone that's staring at Danny is done eating. They must be waiting for him to leave.' She glanced over at Danny. 'Should I warn him? Nah.'

Once he'd eaten enough, Danny stood to leave. "Well, see ya later, guys." He quickly left the Great Hall, wanting to get away from those eyes. Unfortunately, many followed. 'Oh, shit.' Walking quickly, he tried to get away, but even with his magic senses, they knew the school better than him. He almost ran into a group that had gotten ahead of him, and when he turned around, there were more. 

Hearing their calls only made him speed up. "Wait, Danny! We just want to see you practice/your scars/your muscles!" A few seemed to be trying to explain exactly how, and Danny managed to run even faster, hitting speeds that would have made sprinters drool.

It only took one look to decide what had happened. 'I was joking; I didn't mean to tempt fate!' Turning, he took the only route open to him and ran as fast as he could. 'I didn't think I'd _actually_ get a fan club!' He glanced back, and saw that they were falling behind. 'I am _so_ getting revenge for this!'

As soon as he was sure that none of them were close enough to see, Danny turned intangible and invisible and sank halfway into the wall. The girls that had been following him swept by and he breathed a soft sigh of relief. 'Yikes. I'm hiding for a while.'

_(break)_

Snape snorted when he saw the mass exodus of what seemed to be nearly every female student in the hall. 'That boy will be trouble. Though if it will be his own fault or that of a scheming Dark Lord is anyone's guess.'

_Flashback_

Soon after Danny had been picked up from his home at the beginning of the summer, Snape had been called by Voldemort. Dumbledore had already given him permission to answer any questions the Dark Lord had about Danny Fenton, but he was hoping that they wouldn't come up. Unfortunately, he knew that was unlikely. 

Kneeling before the Dark Lord, Snape was unsurprised to see that he was the only one who had been called. It was not the first time, as many times Voldemort had called him simply to have him make some potion or other.

Voldemort considered his kneeling servant, knowing without doubt that he was scanning the room. "You may rise, Severus."

Snape rose, careful to still show respect for Voldemort. 'The things I do in this war…'

Voldemort smirked. He knew how proud Severus was. "Tell me. I have heard word that you and that muggle-loving fool Dumbledore went to a student's house in America. Care to explain?"

Severus mentally winced. He hated giving anything related to the students—even the ones he hated—to Voldemort. Especially information. "His name is Daniel Fenton, my lord. He is sixteen years old and only recently found out about magic."

Voldemort raised an eyebrow. "And how was he able to hide himself from the magical world for so long, Severus?"

Snape swallowed. "He did not say, my lord. Only that a friend of his must have been responsible. In the middle of the conversation, the one I believe he meant came in. Mr. Fenton called him Clockwork."

Voldemort blinked, honestly startled. He fingered his wand threateningly and rose. "Are you sure of this name, Severus?"

Snape nodded, not letting on that he was curious about Voldemort's reaction. "Yes, my lord. Mr. Fenton greeted him by name."

Voldemort smiled. "Interesting. It seems your new student has strong connections." He considered that for a long moment, and Snape dared not interrupt. Finally, he spoke. "Tell me the rest."

Snape quickly gave Voldemort a rundown of the entire meeting. When he was done, Voldemort nodded, pacing. "Interesting indeed. You say that he has expressed dislike for Dumbledore."

Snape nodded. "Yes, my lord."

Voldemort paced in front of his throne for a long moment before he turned to Snape. "You are dismissed, Severus. Be ready for the next time I call."

Snape bowed deeply and left. Staring after him, Voldemort smiled. It was by no means a nice smile. "Interesting indeed."

_End Flashback_

Snape shook his head as he watched Lupin go down to talk to the other Gryffindors that Fenton had been sitting with. 'Anything that Voldemort has an interest in can not bode well for anyone.'

_(break)_

Back in the Great Hall, Ginny laughed when she noticed many of the girls get up and leave, obviously following Danny. Harry stared after them. "Almost makes you pity him, huh?"

Hermione nodded agreement, but Ron blinked. "What? It's just some girls."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "That, oh oblivious brother of mine, was not 'just some girls.' That was a pack of wolves, set on chasing down their prey. Namely Danny."

Remus, walking by, snickered when he heard that. "I'd have to agree with you there, Miss Weasley." Ginny blushed slightly, but he simply continued. "The next time any of you see him, would you have Danny come to my office? Tell him it's about his schedule for the year." 

They all agreed, and Remus left, still chuckling at Ginny's choice of wording. 'Pack of wolves, indeed. In fact, I don't know which would be scarier. Rabid fan-girls or rabid wolves?'

_(break)_

Remus happened to catch the scent of many different girls following one path, and out of curiosity he followed the trail. 'Who knows? I might be able to get them to leave poor Danny alone.'

Danny cautiously stepped out of the wall, though he held himself ready to dive in at a moment's notice. He heard someone walking toward him, and would have done just that if he hadn't recognized the magical signature. 'Mr.-er, Professor Lupin?'

Danny slumped against the wall. 'Thank you, God.' Stepping out of the shadow, he almost bumped into Lupin. "Uh, Professor, help?"

Remus smiled at the sincere plea. "Come on, you can hide in my office for a while, and we'll discuss your schedule for the school year."

Danny closed his eyes and seemed to sag in relief. "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

Remus grinned. "Can't deal with that many girls at once? Some guys dream about being chased by hordes of girls."

Danny shook his head. "They can have it. I already have a girlfriend." He shuddered. "Besides, the only reason anybody wants to have a fan club is they don't and don't know what it's like."

Remus raised an eyebrow and glanced over at the wary teen. "You seem to know."

Danny smirked. "Friend of mine. He's kind of famous in my hometown, and I've _seen_ him try to deal with his Phan club." His smirk widened. "It didn't work out too well. They just got more obsessed." 'Thankfully, none of them associated 'wimpy Danny Fenton' with 'ghostly hero Danny Phantom.' Made life a bit easier for me.'

_(break)_

It didn't take long for Danny to find out what was going on. Hermione had managed to tutor him enough that he was in the right year, but it was only the bare bones, so to speak. To build up his knowledge enough that he wouldn't get frustrated and fall behind, Danny was going to continue to be tutored. 

Remus smiled. "You'll probably take extra lessons in DADA with Harry and his Defense Club, if he continues it. If he doesn't, Harry is still your best bet for help. Most of the time, I will be the one tutoring, and Harry, Ron and Hermione may join in, but at certain times, I will be…unavailable."

Danny nodded. "Alright. So it'll be a lot like over the summer, except with more teachers."

Remus smiled slightly. "Something like that, yes. Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape hashed out a schedule between them of when would be best for you to train with them." 

Danny blinked. "Why? I'd think they'd just assign a tutor or something."

Remus smirked. "You showed quite an aptitude for both subjects over the summer. It seems they had both decided that you would get tutoring from them directly, and neither knew about the other until they went to tell Dumbledore."

Danny blinked, imagined that scenario, and laughed. "I almost wish I was there!"

Remus grinned. "When I asked Dumbledore, all he would tell me was that it was an interesting experience, watching them."

Danny laughed. "I bet!"

Remus smiled. "Anyway, as for Herbology," he ignored the face Danny made at the mention of the subject, "you are likely going to split time between lessons with Professor Sprout and Neville."

Danny blinked. "Neville? I guess that makes sense, he did feel kind of like the plants…" He trailed off when he realized what he'd said, and Remus stared at him.

Remus blinked after a long moment, watching Danny want to disappear. "'Felt like the plants'? Can you sense magic, Danny?"

Danny squirmed and resisted the urge to disappear, literally. "Uh, yes?"

Remus blinked again. "That's a very rare talent. And it's not always easy to realize that someone has it, either."

Danny stared at him for a long moment. "What do you mean? Wouldn't it be easy to tell?"

Remus shook his head. "Not really. I mean, those who have it usually have an aptitude for casting magic, especially after it's been demonstrated to them, but they often don't even realize that they are doing something most can't."

Danny grinned sheepishly. "I wasn't sure what it was until after Hermione cast a spell for the first time." He shrugged. "By the time I did, I decided to not say anything until someone figured it out."

Remus sat back a little. "Has anyone?"

Danny quirked a smile. "Yeah, actually. Neville."

Remus blinked. "Neville?"

Danny nodded sheepishly. "I guess I jumped a trick step without thinking about it."

"Interesting…" He shook his head quickly. "We've gotten off subject. Let's see, Ancient Runes, COMC, History of Magic, and Astronomy are the other classes you're taking. From what I understand, you had absolutely no trouble in Astronomy." He glanced at Danny, who had a proud smile on his face. "In fact, Hermione was rather miffed about that."

Danny blushed. "I've wanted to be an astronaut for years. So I studied the stars a lot."

Remus smiled. "Since it would be rather pointless anyway, you won't get assigned tutoring in History. Most people fall asleep anyway."

Danny smiled slightly. "I read some of the book and ended up taking a nap for three hours." He ducked his head. "At least it's a good cure for insomnia."

Remus quickly turned his laughter into a cough and moved on, but he couldn't suppress his smile. "Right. If you have any trouble in Ancient Runes, Hermione would be the best one to ask for help."

Danny nodded. "If she ever wants to be a teacher, this year is going to be good practice for Hermione."

Remus nodded agreement. "Anyway, here is your class schedule, as well as the times set for tutoring." He held out several sheets of parchment.

Danny nodded and accepted the papers. Standing, he was about to go when something occurred to him. "Uh, Professor? Not that I'm not grateful, but why are you the one explaining all this to me? I'd have thought it'd be Professor McGonagall."

Remus smirked. "Dumbledore decided it would be best to choose a slightly more… neutral person to do this. After all, if Minerva had been the one to explain, Severus likely would have come as well, and you may have been witness to another incident between them."

Danny blinked and thought about it. "Uh, thanks. That does explain a lot." He turned to go, shaking his head. 'I may not like the man, but I _know_ Dumbledore could describe something if he had to. If he _said_ interesting, he _meant_ interesting. As in cat and dog interesting. Cat and dog fighting over something interesting. With me as the 'something' they're fighting over. Not something I want to be in the middle of.'

Without thinking about it, Danny made his way up to the Gryffindor tower, avoiding as many people as possible. With his senses on high, he managed to get there without running into anyone. 'I have a feeling this _year_ is going to be 'interesting'.'

_(break)_

(1) Sorry, but I couldn't resist. And can you imagine the look on Danny's face?

AN: Yeah, some people will probably object about the speed that Danny's fanclub forms, but it was mostly for humor value anyway. Would you believe I've had that planned pretty much from the beginning? Fun times for Danny ahead. _evil grin_ Of course, Danny'd likely object... Too bad, I'm the author.


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I'm not British, I'm not male. Enough said. 

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Chapter 12

Somewhere in Europe…

Voldemort paced in his chambers. The news Severus had given him had led to him searching through his extensive library and those of his followers, but he had not turned up much information. 

Stalking over to a table, Voldemort picked up the only book he had been able to find that would tell him about the being known as Clockwork. Flipping through until he found the right page, he read it once more. 

_Clockwork, also known as the Master of Time, is an extremely mysterious being. It is not known where his home is, and few have even seen him. There is no agreement on what he is, whether human or otherwise, but a few things are known. His appearance is that of an old man, young man, and infant, as he goes through a seemingly involuntary transformation among the three forms. According to sources, Clockwork possesses a type of medallion that allows those who wear one to be unaffected by changes in the flow of time. He always carries a staff with a clock at the top, though its function is unknown._

Voldemort snarled softly in frustration and tossed the book aside once more. It was the most information he'd been able to find, but it wasn't enough. 'The book mentions changes, so it is indeed possible to change the past. But how is it done? And how would I find this Clockwork in the first place?'

Years ago, Voldemort had come across some mention of Clockwork. It hadn't been much, but the title 'Master of Time' had caught his attention. Since then, he had looked everywhere for some mention of the elusive being, but he hadn't found much. When Severus mentioned that the boy that had been taken to Hogwarts _knew_ Clockwork, even seemed to consider him a friend…

"I wonder if grabbing that boy will bring his 'friend' out of hiding." Voldemort smirked. "And perhaps I could… convince this Clockwork to change events so that that miserable Potter died with his thrice-be-damned parents."

_(break)_

Wisconsin…

Vlad smiled slightly as he stared out his office window and considered his plans. "I will have to visit eventually, see how Daniel likes my surprise. After all, I wouldn't want him to be bored while in that strange school, now would I?"

Turning, he saw Skulker waiting for him. "Skulker, I want you to spread Daniel's location around the Ghost Zone. Make sure as many ghosts as possible know exactly where he is, and how to get there."

Skulker nodded. "Will I be able to hunt him as well?"

Vlad smirked. "Of course." His expression changed suddenly, became much uglier. "But don't kill him, or I will hunt you down myself, got it?"

Skulker gulped softly. "Yes, of course, sir." He took off as soon as Vlad told him he could go, wanting to get the first part of his job done as soon as possible.

_(break)_

Amity Park…

Sam stared at the ceiling, bored out of her mind. After Danny had left, there hadn't been much to do, and the number of ghosts had decreased quite a bit. Even the Box Ghost didn't come out as much!

Her computer beeped, indicating that someone was online. Rolling over onto her stomach, she signed on. Seeing who is was, she smiled brightly. "Danny! Having fun over there?" 

Danny sighed, looking slightly haggard. "Well, I'm not bored." He was about to go on when Tucker also signed on. "Hey, Tuck."

Tucker blinked. "Man, what happened to you?"

Danny dropped his head into his arms and muttered something that neither of his friends understood. Glancing at each other, Sam decided to ask. "Danny, could you repeat that? We didn't hear you." 

Danny sighed in resignation and lifted his head. "I said I have a fan club." His head dropped once more.

For a long moment, there was silence as his two friends stared in shock. Then Tucker burst out laughing and rolled out of view. There was a soft _thump_ which suggested that he'd fallen on to the floor. 

Finally, Sam managed to speak. "A fan club? How did that happen?"

Danny sighed and looked up again so he could explain. "I got a letter from Vlad—I'll explain in a minute—and was really annoyed, so I went outside by the lake to practice."

Sam interrupted before he could go any further. "Let me guess. You took off your shirt and didn't realize that there was someone there."

Danny shrugged. "I was really into it, and I didn't notice when a couple girls summoned my robe and shirt."

Sam sighed. "Only you could get yourself into something like this."

Danny nodded. "Yeah, but there's more. Next day, I really didn't want to go down to breakfast—"

Sam shook her head. "Bad idea and you know it, Danny. Remember the last time you didn't eat?"

Danny winced. There were times when a fast metabolism was more trouble than it was worth. "Yeah, I know, but I figured I could just find the kitchens and get something from there."

Sam sighed. "Well, I'm assuming that you went down anyway."

Danny shook his head. "I didn't have much choice. Hermione recruited a few of the other Gryffindors, and they practically dragged me halfway before I gave in. Anyway, I got down there and it felt like nearly every girl in there turned and looked at me." He hunched in on himself. "Not fun."

Sam smiled sympathetically. Danny really wasn't one to be the center of attention, especially considering how many times his powers put him there, like it or not. The falling pants came to mind. Then she blinked. "Wait a minute. Your fan club formed _overnight_?" 

Danny nodded. "I know it sounds weird, but it's true. I guess magic speeds things up a bit, huh?" He smiled weakly. "Anyway, I left and they all followed me at once. I couldn't get away from them, so I got far enough ahead of them to turn intangible and hide in the wall."

He shook his head. "Then one of the teachers, Remus Lupin, came by and asked me to go to his office so he could explain how my schedule's gonna work."

Sam considered that for a moment and blinked. "Why does his name mean 'wolf'?"

Danny shrugged. "Well, he's a werewolf. Other than that, I have no clue."

Sam stared, and Tucker, who had managed to calm his laughter at some point, pulled himself up so that he could stare at Danny as well. "Dude, werewolves are_real_? How can you tell?"

Danny rolled his eyes. "I turn out to be a wizard and you guys are weirded out by werewolves?"

Sam blinked and shook her head. "Yeah, I guess you're right. How did you find out, anyway?"

Danny shrugged. "He reminded me of Wulf the first time I met him. I kinda _looked_, and he's got some kind of wolf shape around him."

Tucker frowned and exchanged a glance with Sam. "'_Looked_?'"

Danny shrugged. "Turns out I can sense magic. It's the best way I can think of to explain it." 

Sam was fascinated by the idea, and so was Tucker. They started asking questions, and Danny explained a bit more. He told them quite a bit about the school, teachers, and other students as well. 

A while later, Sam happened to remember why Danny had wanted to talk to them in the first place. Waiting for an opening, she finally spoke. "Danny? You said something about a letter earlier, didn't you?"

Danny blinked, and it took him a moment to realize what she meant. "Oh, right. Sorry, I almost forgot." He shook his head. "Basically Plasmius sent me a letter, he said something about finding out where I was from mom and dad, though I doubt they told him, and that he'd already known about wizards and witches. He said something else, too. Here, let me find it…"

A moment later, he was back with a sheet of paper in his hand. "Here we go. It says, _P.S. I do hope you won't be letting the skills you learned in Amity Park go to waste._" He imitated Vlad's usual arrogant tone as he said it, and both of his friends stared at him. 

Sam shook his head. "What does that mean, though? About not letting your skills go to waste?" 

Danny sighed. "I'm not sure, but with my luck it means that he's going to send the ghosts after me again." He blew an annoyed breath. "I was enjoying the break, too."

Tucker frowned. "He's going to send the ghosts to you? Is he nuts?"

Danny laughed softly. "Well, we already knew he was a fruit loop. This is just another example." Shaking his head, he asked, "So how's ghost activity over there?"

Sam and Tucker traded a glance. "We haven't seen very many ghosts lately," Sam replied.

Tucker nodded. "Yeah, man. I mean, the Lunch Lady was in the Nasty Burger yesterday, and a couple of others have shown up, but not many. Even the Box Ghost hasn't shown up very often!"

Danny blinked. "That_is_ weird. Box Ghost seems to show up no matter what." He glanced at something out of their sight, and grimaced. "Sorry guys, but I have to go. One of my roommates is coming up."

Sam and Tucker said their goodbyes and watched as Danny's image disappeared from the screen.

Tucker shook his head. "Man, Danny gets it rough sometimes. He gets a vacation for a few months, and now the ghosts are going to pile in again." 

Sam nodded. "I know, Tucker, but there's not much we can do for him. He's pretty much across the world from us."

_(break)_

Danny sighed as he closed his laptop and stowed it away in his trunk. He stretched out on his bed and ignored Seamus when he came in and got something out of his own trunk. He hadn't wanted to cut his conversation with his friends short like that, but he didn't feel like trying to explain how he had a computer in Hogwarts. 

He was really missing Sam and Tucker. Being able to talk to them face-to-face was good, but it really wasn't the same. He really liked being able to pretend that he was a normal teen, even though he was anything but. Even after he got his ghost powers, it had been nice to goof off once in a while with his friends. 

'It's probably a good thing they were there. I know it freaked them out a lot, and Sam felt guilty for a long time—heck, she probably _still_ feels guilty, even though I told her it was alright—but I don't think I ever would have gotten up the courage to tell them.'

He rolled over onto his stomach, and stared out at the room, though he wasn't actually seeing it. 'I've never actually had to _tell_ someone until they'd already figured out at least some of it. Jazz figured out I was both Danny Phantom and Fenton, but I don't think even she understood it for a long time. Mom thought I was being overshadowed at first, but at least she was willing to listen. So was dad. But if everyone found out…' 

Danny shuddered as he remembered what had happened while Freakshow had the Reality Gauntlet. He shook himself quickly and stood up, heading for the door. "I need to go flying." Quickly slipping out, he moved through the shadows, only partially visible, to escape the attention of his fan club members who were in Gryffindor. 

It didn't take him long to find a deserted area of the school, and after making sure there was nobody around, he transformed and flew straight up, intangible and invisible.

_(break)_

Hours later, Danny was feeling much calmer. Since it was getting late, he decided to go in. He saw no reason to risk being caught by a teacher, so he poked his head in the common room and saw that Hermione was still up. 'Maybe she's working on homework. Oh, well, I'd better go in the regular way.'

He flew down the hall and landed well out of sight from the Fat Lady before he transformed. He walked up and had to wake her up, but in a moment he was able to give her the password. "Toadstool."

The Fat Lady yawned sleepily. "Right, right. Go on in dearie." She went back to sleep after she let him in, not seeming to realize how late it was.

Danny slipped past her and into the Gryffindor Common Room. More by habit than anything else, he slipped through the shadows, unnoticed.

Hermione looked up when the door opened, but didn't see anyone. She wondered for a moment if Harry had gone out with his Invisibility Cloak, but realized that Harry had gone to bed with the rest, and he hadn't come back down. Even when he was just going out for a walk, Harry usually made sure to check in with her if she was still up before he left. But if it wasn't Harry, then… "Danny?" Danny looked up, and for just a moment Hermione could have sworn his eyes were glowing 'But that's impossible.'

He stepped into the light so that she could see him, and grinned. "Hey, Hermione. Why are you still up?"

Hermione shrugged. "I wanted to read a bit more before I went to bed. Besides, it's not that late." She glanced at the time, and realized it was just past midnight. "Or at least I didn't think it was that late. Where were you, anyway?"

Danny smiled slightly. "I just needed to get out for a while." He shrugged. "It's getting late, and tomorrow's Monday, so goodnight." He turned and climbed the stairs to the boys' dorms without another word.

Hermione yawned. "Goodnight." She also climbed the stairs to her dorm, and soon readied herself for bed, happy that learning started once more in the morning.

Danny sat on his bed and tilted his head slightly. He listened carefully to the sounds in the tower, extending his magic senses to make sure everyone was asleep. After a moment, he grinned. "Now the fun begins," he murmured happily. 

Danny quickly turned intangible and walked through a wall, this time orienting on Hermione's magic signature. Moments later, he emerged in the girls' dorm, and cast a quick few spells over two different girls before quickly returning to his bed. 'The beginning of my revenge...'

There was a disturbing grin on Danny's face as he fell asleep contemplating the pending chaos.

_(break)_

AN: This is the shortest chapter I've posted for this story yet. Aren't you feeling privileged? That said, the next chapter should be out before _too_ much longer. I love being the author. 


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I have Harry's wand. Take that however you want, you will anyway.

_(break)_

Chapter 13

It would be a week to remember. Once he woke up, Danny waited in the Common Room, claiming a chair over by the fire, until he heard everyone else starting to get up. He grinned and slipped out before anybody could see him. 

Danny quickly found his way down to the Great Hall, where only a few other early-risers were starting in on their breakfasts. He calmly chose a seat near the end of the Gryffindor table with his back to the wall. That way, he could watch everyone. 

Half an hour or so after he got there, most of the Gryffindors had arrived. A few had come down not long after Danny, but the majority was having a hard time getting going that morning. This included one member of the infamous 'Gryffindor Trio.'

Danny happened to glance up and was treated to the sight of Ron Weasley almost literally staggering along. Harry and Hermione were following him, obviously not wanting to get in his way. 

Danny stared as the groggy redhead dropped into the seat across from him and automatically began eating; he didn't seem to care what was in front of him. Finally, he blinked. "Is it alive?"

Harry sat next to him and snickered. "Ron's not a morning person. It gets easier after a week or two, but until then he's like this." He gestured at the semi-conscious redhead. 

Hermione, who was sitting on Harry's other side, snorted. "Honestly, if he just went to bed a little earlier, he wouldn't have this problem."

Danny snickered. "Throwing stones, Hermione?"

Hermione flushed, and Harry glanced between them. "Am I missing something?"

Danny smirked. "I was out a bit late last night, and when I came in Miss Bookworm there was still up. She didn't think it was that late until she saw the time." He didn't bother to mention that he'd been up much later before. 

Harry raised an eyebrow. "What time was it?"

Hermione huffed. "Honestly, it was only 12: 45!"

Harry looked at her. "Only?" 

Danny smirked. "Like I said, throwing stones."

Hermione glared at him. "Well, where were you then?"

Danny shrugged easily. "Eh, I had to get away for a while, get some alone time. I wanted to go somewhere I could feel the wind."

Danny didn't have a broom, so both Hermione and Harry assumed that Danny had probably been in one of the towers. Danny knew that was probably what they assumed and didn't bother to correct them.

Ron was finally starting to do more than grunt and grab more food by the time the class schedules were passed out. "Aw, man! Double Potions with Slytherins!"

Harry looked like he wanted to beat his head against the table, but Hermione just shook her head. "Calm down, Ron. It's only one day a week!"

Danny smirked. "Well, from what I've heard we might want to get there early." 

Harry blinked. "Wait a minute; McGonagall didn't give you a schedule. How do you know where you're supposed to be?"

Danny rolled his eyes. "Mr. Lupin was picked to explain to me what my schedule is going to be like this year. I got it a couple days ago." 

Hermione blinked. "Can I see it?"

Danny shrugged, pulled it out of his pocket and handed it to her. He had already learned first-hand how fanatical she was about learning, after all. 

Hermione hmm-ed as she compared Danny's schedule to her own. "Let's see. Yours is very similar to mine, actually. Except, of course, you have a free period while I'm in Arithmancy." She looked at Danny. "You know, you really should have let me teach you some Arithmancy. It's quite interesting." 

Danny shook his head. "No. I had a hard enough time getting through algebra. I really didn't want to deal with more math." 

Hermione smirked. "I think you said something similar the first time I brought it up." She paused for a moment, as if wondering if she should say something.

Danny rolled his eyes. "Go ahead and ask; I know that look by now."

Hermione flushed slightly but quickly went on. "Why does it say you'll have tutoring for Potions on Monday and Transfiguration on Tuesday?"

Danny smirked. "According to Professor Lupin, Professor McGonagall and Snape both decided that I showed potential and they wanted to tutor me personally. I guess they went to Dumbledore, but neither knew what the other had decided until they got there."

Harry's brows shot up. "Do we even want to know?"

Danny's smirk widened. "Professor Lupin said that Dumbledore called it 'interesting.'"

Before the three could get any more details on what he meant, they realized it was time to get to class if they didn't want Snape breathing down their necks even more than usual. 

_(break)_

Snape stalked into class as his eyes traveled everywhere, taking note of everything and everyone in the class. As usual, he sneered when he saw Harry, but for once he decided to just get on with class. "I see that some of you actually managed to make it into my class. Don't fall behind; I won't stop to help anyone who does."

He looked around to make sure they all understood before snapping his wand at the board. "You are to make the Nox Lumen. (1) It grants the drinker perfect night vision. Instructions are on the board." 

Danny thought it was funny that they were making a potion for perfect night sight when he could see just fine by letting his eyes glow green. He shook it off, and copied down the instructions. 

It wasn't until halfway through class that anything unusual happened. Danny and Harry had ended up paired together, and something was thrown over, obviously meant to land in their cauldron. Danny's hand snapped out almost before he thought of it, and he caught the small object. He immediately grimaced, half wishing he hadn't, but he knew that it probably would have been worse if the thing landed in their potion.

Harry happened to glance over in time to see the whole thing and blinked. He wasn't surprised by the fact that Danny had caught it—he'd seen Danny's reflexes over the summer—but he was surprised by the obvious disgust on Danny's face. "What is it?"

Danny didn't answer for a moment. Instead, he waited until Snape wasn't looking and lobbed it into Malfoy's hair. This caused the blond to immediately squawk in outrage. Under the noise he made, he answered Harry's question. "Some kind of brains, I think. I just thought I'd return them."

Harry grimaced at the thought. "That explains your face." 

Danny rolled his eyes. "Did you really think I _wanted_ to catch some animal's brains barehanded like that?"

Harry shook his head. "Guess not. But how did you know Malfoy threw it?"

Danny smirked slightly and didn't answer. After a while, Malfoy was convinced to sit down and shut up. After all, nobody had any way of telling where the brains had come from. 

As Snape stalked among the students, he finally snapped at a specific pair of Gryffindor girls. "Is there some reason you are unable to sit still in my class, Miss Brown and Patil?"

The girls blushed furiously and were unable to answer. Snape smirked. "Five points from each of you for distracting your classmates." The girls looked like they wanted to protest, but they kept their mouths shut since they knew he would just take more if they protested. 

Danny ignored the points taking, knowing that it really didn't matter anyway. Snape always took points, after all. If nothing else, Lavender and Parvati took some of what he would have blamed on Harry.

At the end of class, Snape circled among them, checking their potions. He sneered at Danny and Harry's potion, but moved on without saying anything. At the front, he glared impartially at all of them. "You are to write a foot about the Nox Lumen, specifically its effects and origins. Now get out of my sight." Everyone, even the Slytherins, scrambled to obey the order. 

_(break)_

During lunch, Dean happened to glance over at Lavender and Parvati, who were _still_ squirming. "What is up with you two? You haven't sat still all morning, and you already lost us points with Snape." 

Lavender glared at him. She had already been having a bad morning, and she really didn't need him making her feel worse. "It's none of your business."

Dean rolled his eyes. "Whatever. By the way, I think you missed a spot this morning." He calmly went back to his lunch, not realizing what impact his words would have. 

Lavender gave him a cautious look. "What do you mean, I missed a spot? What are you talking about?" 

Dean shrugged. "End of your nose." 

Parvati frowned and looked at her friend. It took her a moment to realize what Dean was talking about. "Lavender, he's right." 

Lavender turned to frown at her friend, but then she got a good look at her. Immediately she stood and half-dragged Parvati out of the Great Hall. When Parvati started to protest, she hissed at her, "Par, you've got a zit. From what Dean said, so do I. We need immediate cover-up." 

Parvati started moving under own power once she heard that, and the two made their way to the nearest bathroom. 

_(break)_

Danny watched them go, quietly amused. 'I wonder when they'll realize that they can't do anything about those.' Even several halls away, the shrieks the two girls let out when they discovered this fact hurt his ears. 'Ah, just now. Ow.'

Danny discreetly reached up and rubbed his ear, since he had no idea if anyone else had heard that. It was one problem he had with having better hearing than most humans. He wasn't always sure when he heard something that no one _else_ could hear.

Hermione glanced over and frowned when she noticed the slightly pained look on Danny's face. "Danny, are you alright?"

Danny glanced up, and blinked. "Hmm? Oh, yeah, I'm fine."

Hermione frowned but left it alone. She knew that if she pressed it too much, Danny would simply ignore her, so she decided not to press it.

Soon it was time to go to Herbology. Danny hung back a bit and rolled his eyes. 'Woo-hoo, we get to garden. Blech.'

Danny didn't pay much attention at first, since all the professor was doing was welcoming them to class. Finally, she started in on their lesson for the day. "Today we are going to be working with Screechsnap. Most of you," she glanced over at Danny, "worked with the seedlings last year."

_(break)_

During Herbology, Danny happened to glance over and saw that Lavender and Parvati were once more squirming. 'Heh. If they ever find out I'm the one doing this, I may not survive.' He grinned evilly. 'Of course, I'll make sure to at least stick around to the end of the week. After all, pulsing zits and itchy underwear is only the beginning.' 

On a whim, Danny went to the Great Hall after class and cast a few spells there, as well. He left, and his laughter echoed through the halls. Those who heard it couldn't resist the shiver that ran down their spines. 

Danny flew to a hall not far from the Fat Lady's portrait, and changed back to human before he calmly let himself in to the Gryffindor Common Room. After all, he had a free period while his main fans were in Divination, so he had time to start the essay Snape had assigned for next week.

_(break)_

At dinner, Danny quietly slipped into his usual space at the Gryffindor Table—near the end, where he could make a quick escape if he had to. He kept a discreet eye on Lavender and Parvati, amused to note that they obviously didn't want to be there. 'I guess they didn't have much choice.'

About half way through dinner, Lavender and Parvati's zits began to pulsate, like they had their own heartbeat. They could feel it, and even see it slightly, since the zits had gotten so big. A few Gryffindors stared in horrified fascination, and when they bulged for the first time, no one was able to hold back cries of disgust. 

But they didn't burst, simply settling down once more, though they continued to pulsate. The second time, most of the school was watching, but they simply settled once more, the pulsating never stopping. The third time, it got bigger than the first two times, and many Gryffindors got ready to dive out of the way, but it soon proved unnecessary. 

After the third bulge, the zits shrank and disappeared as if they had never been. From the ceiling, there came a soft popping sound, as the spells Danny had set went off. Looking up, everybody could see a kind of ethereal banner with words printed on it. _This is only the beginning._

Lavender and Parvati looked at the words, and their eyes rolled up into their heads as darkness claimed them both.

_(break)_

Danny grinned. The two girls were fine; they had just decided to take a break of sorts and fainted. 'Which day am I looking forward to more? Thursday or Friday? Wednesday comes in close, but it's just not as good. Hmm… Guess I'll have to decide when it comes.'

Looking up, Danny saw that he was almost to the Potions classroom. 'Wonder how this tutoring thing will go.' 

Snape looked up as the transfer student walked in. His lip curled slightly. "At least you have the courtesy to arrive on time, I'll give you that. To begin with, you will brew the potions I set before you. Once I have some idea of how much of what Granger stuffed into your head actually stuck, we will go on from there. Questions?" Both the tone and the look on his face said that there had better not be any.

Danny smirked slightly and shook his head. 'This guy makes me almost _glad_ I've had to deal with Vlad's smarminess all the time. At least Snape doesn't hide under false pretences.' 

As Danny set up his cauldron for the first potion, he smiled. 'What did that keychain say? Oh, right. "I don't discriminate. I hate everyone. (2)"'

_(break)_

After the Potions tutoring—which he actually thought went reasonably well—Danny went back up to the Common Room, since it was almost curfew. As soon as the Fat Lady moved out of the way, he blinked and stared. There was a party going on. 

Danny looked around and quickly found Hermione, who had barricaded herself in a corner to work on her homework. "Why is there a party going?"

Hermione glanced up in surprise. "Oh, right. I forgot you didn't know. It's a 'We survived the first day' party." 

Danny blinked. "Is there going to be a 'We survived the second day' party, too?" 

Hermione grinned. "No, but there's usually a 'We survived the first week' party on Friday." Danny laughed and decided to go join the party. After all, he deserved it as much as any of them. (3)

_(break)_

Later that night, after everybody had been chased off to bed, Danny was still calmly waiting. It was a little after midnight, and he wanted to be sure everyone was asleep. 

Soon, he decided that it was safe, and made sure the curtains on his bed were tightly closed before he transformed. Once that was done, he turned invisible and intangible before following Hermione's magic signature to her dorm once more. It only took him a moment to cast his spells and return to his bed, this time to sleep. 

_(break)_

Danny woke up early the next morning and once more claimed a chair by the fireplace in the Common Room. 'Today is the pink bozo hair and orange beards. It's probably a good thing I'm already half-ghost, or they'd both kill me.' 

Danny heard the first sounds of people waking up, and suddenly remembered what had happened yesterday, when the girls had found out that the pimples couldn't be covered up. He quickly rose and exited the room through the portrait, making sure he wasn't hurrying _too_ much. No reason to make everyone suspicious, after all. 

When the expected shrieks rang out, Danny was several halls away, and the sound _still_ hurt his ears. He winced and rubbed them. 'Forget killing me. If they ever find out I'm the one who did this, they'll just scream at me, and I'll _wish_ they killed me. Ah, well. It's still worth it.'

_(break)_

When Harry, Ron, and Hermione joined Danny at the Gryffindor table, Harry and Hermione were snickering. Ron was slightly more coherent than he had been yesterday, but he was still more zombie-like than human. Danny gave the two conscious Gryffindors an amused smirk. "What's so funny?"

Hermione started laughing even harder, and Danny looked at Harry, who was slightly more coherent. "Well, remember the banner yesterday?" 

Danny's smirk widened slightly. "The 'This is only the beginning' thing? Yeah, hard to forget when it made Lavender and Parvati faint."

Harry grinned. "Well, this morning they both woke up with neon pink afros and orange beards down to their waist." 

Danny leaned forward eagerly. "How did they react?"

Harry's lips twitched. "Lavender woke up most of the Tower with her screaming. And that was only when she looked in the mirror. When she and Parvati saw each other, their screaming woke everyone else up and brought McGonagall running. She thought we were being attacked or something."

Danny grinned, and suddenly Hermione looked at him in realization. "You're the one pranking them!"

Danny glanced around quickly. "Quiet, will you? I don't want them to find out. Between yesterday and today, they'd kill me for sure! And I haven't even gotten to the best part yet!"

Harry stared between him and Hermione. "I should have known. Fred and George had pink hair and Fred had a beard this summer when you…um…"

Danny gave him a wry look. "When I came back female because of those idiots?"

Harry nodded agreement quickly moved on. "What about yesterday? I mean, we all know the pimple thing, but you make it sound like more."

Danny grinned and glanced around to make sure there was no one listening. Then he leaned forward slightly and quietly spoke. "Two words. Itchy underwear."

Hermione stared at him. "That explains why they couldn't sit still during Potions! You spelled their knickers to be itchy!" 

Harry stared and even Ron managed to look semi-coherently at Danny. Danny simply went back to eating his breakfast as if nothing had happened.

_(break)_

Lavender and Parvati weren't seen by anyone until Transfiguration, but by then it didn't matter. The story of how the whole tower had been woken by their screams had spread across the school, and even the teachers were starting to wonder if it was as bad as everyone made it sound. 

It wasn't, of course. It was worse. Someone had had the bright idea of trying to simply cut off the beards. The beards grew back longer, and instead of to their waists, the beards now reached their knees. The two decided that maybe their hair would do the same thing. They tried—it grew back

to exactly the same length, but was twice as stiff, so they couldn't even pull their hoods up to cover it. 

The two were nearly late for class, but McGonagall merely gave them a reprimanding glance and said nothing. After all, it would be hard to give any punishment worse than simply having to show up in the first place.

Danny let his gaze flick around idly as McGonagall gave her usual speech. He focused on her once more when she started to explain what they'd do that day. "Today, we will be changing mice into lizards. If there is time before class ends, you are to start reading chapter three of Guide to Advanced Transfiguration. Can anyone tell me some of the possible difficulties inherent in changing a mouse into a lizard?"

Hermione immediately raised her hand, and when McGonagall called on her, she said, "Well, mice are warm-blooded and lizards are cold-blooded. They might resist the change more than simply changing the mice into another warm-blooded animal."

McGonagall nodded. "Correct. Five points to Gryffindor." She passed out the mice, and everyone began working. Hermione, of course, changed her mouse on the first try, and had a small chameleon flicking its tongue at her.

Danny had waited until after Hermione did hers before he tried. Concentrating, he said the spell, but it didn't go quite the way he wanted it to. 

Ron glanced over from trying to transfigure his own mouse. So far, he'd turned it green. "Man, that has to be the ugliest thing I've ever seen."

Danny glared at him. "Oh, shut up." He turned back to his mouse-lizard thing. It was still in the shape of the mouse, but it had a lizard's head with mouse ears, lizard feet, a mouse tail, and skin that was a mixture of lizard and mouse skin, with no fur. It really was hideous. 

McGonagall came over and bit her lip lightly at the sight. She was obviously trying not to laugh. "It's a good try for your first time." She changed it back into a mouse. "This time, try putting a little more power into it."

Danny nodded absently. Everyone else trying to do their own transfigurations was fairly distracting, but he ignored it. This was his first time attempting to do actual spell-work around a large group doing the same, but hopefully he'd get used to it soon. 

Taking a deep breath, Danny murmured the spell once more, and this time he had a small bearded dragon. "Well, that's better." He reached out to stroke its head and judge the magic strains of it. After a long moment, he decided that he'd gotten it right this time. 

McGonagall came by and picked up his lizard to study it. Once she was sure it didn't have any fur or whiskers, she nodded. "Good. Now start on your reading assignment."

Danny smiled slightly at her gruff approval, pulled out his Transfiguration book and flipped to chapter three.

_(break)_

In DADA, Remus smiled as he scanned the students. "Hello. As most of you should remember, I taught DADA in your third year. Perhaps this year will go a little better, hmm?" Many of the 

students laughed, and he smiled. "Anyway, in third year we learned about some of the basic Dark creatures, such as boggarts. This year, we are going to learn about some of the more powerful Dark creatures, like the Dementors. Any questions?" 

There were none, and he smiled slightly before starting class. Or he would have if there hadn't been a knock at the door. Frowning, he walked over and opened it, blinking at the sight of Lavender and Parvati. "Ah, hello, Miss Brown, Miss Patil. Is there some reason you're late?"

Lavender sighed. "We were with Professor McGonagall. She gave us a pass." She handed it over and they quickly found a pair of seats together in the front row.

Lupin nodded. "Right. Anyway, as I told your classmates, we will be learning about some of the more powerful Dark creatures this year."

_(break)_

On the way to lunch after class, Danny idly listened to what Lavender and Parvati were saying. 

"Professor McGonagall said she couldn't get rid of this. She's a professor, how is that possible?" Lavender growled in frustration. 

Parvati shook her head. "I don't know. Personally, I wish I knew who's pranking us in the first place."

Danny winced and paused, waiting to see if he would sense a ghost. When nothing happened, he sighed softly in relief. 

Hermione, Ron, and Harry gave him strange looks, but Hermione was the one who asked. "What was that about?"

Danny sighed. "Sorry, but I've gotten used to not saying 'I wish' no matter what. At home, there's a ghost who acts kind of like a genie. She goes around granting wishes, and they usually turn out badly."

Ron tilted his head. "Why would a ghost grant wishes?"

Danny shrugged. "'Cause it's the only way she can gain enough power to answer her own wishes." He pulled ahead of them before they could ask more, not wanting to talk too much more about Desiree than he had to. With his luck and considering the letter Vlad had sent, there was a pretty good chance she'd actually show up at some point.

Danny managed to avoid most of the Trio's questions during lunch, but they were still quite persistent. Finally, Danny snapped. "_Look_," he said angrily. "I'd rather not talk about her, because knowing my luck she'll show up some time this year. For now, all you really need to know is that it's a bad idea to say 'I wish.' Don't wish for anything, and you should be fine." 

He went back to his lunch already regretting yelling at them, but refusing to take it back. He sighed. 'I'm really starting to wish Sam and Tucker could be here. It's really lonely not having anyone around who knows about me being a ghost hybrid.'

Hermione looked like she wanted to protest, but Harry leaned over and stopped her. "Hermione, leave him alone. He might tell us more later." Hermione frowned, but was forced to agree.

_(break)_

By the time they left for Ancient Runes, Danny was calmer and Hermione more willing to give him some space. On the way, Hermione decided to give him some warning. "Danny, just so you know, it's a really bad idea to laugh at the professor's name."

Danny blinked at her. "Okay. Why?"

Hermione shrugged. "Professor Babbling—" she was cut off by a choked off sound from Danny. "Yes, that is precisely why. She hates it when anyone laughs at her name, and she is quite powerful in her own right."

Danny nodded. "I know, just give me a minute." He quickly composed himself, and tried to keep from visibly showing humor, but it wasn't easy. 'An Ancient Runes professor with the name 'Babbling.' I wonder if she babbles.' 

Soon after they made it to class, a cheerful-looking woman stood from behind her desk to start class. "Good afternoon, everyone. As most of you know, I am Bathsheda Babbling (4), but of course you are to call me Professor Babbling or just Professor.

"Of course, we all know that there is somebody new this year. Hopefully Mr. Fenton will be able to keep up in my class." Danny ducked slightly in embarrassment when some of the others glanced over at him, but he paid attention when the teacher continued speaking. 

_(break)_

At the end of class, the professor asked Danny to stay back for a moment. "From what I have heard, you'll have Miss Granger tutoring you for most of your classes. But if there is anything you have trouble with in my class, feel free to find me so you can ask questions."

Danny smiled slightly. "Thank you, Professor; I'll keep that in mind." He left the classroom with a thoughtful look on his face, and joined Hermione without breaking stride. 

Hermione smiled slightly. "What was that about?"

Danny glanced at her. "She offered to help if I got stuck with anything in her class." 

Hermione smiled triumphantly. "See? I told you it would be good not to laugh at her."

Danny blinked. "You mean she's more willing to help if you don't laugh at her name?"

"Mhm. She'll help anyone who asks, but she doesn't offer to anyone who laughed, so they don't always know they _can_ ask. Whenever someone takes her class, they are usually warned by someone who has taken it before." 

_(break)_

Care of Magical Creatures went smoothly enough, considering Hagrid's fascination with the more dangerous creatures. Of course, Danny soon noticed the resemblance to somebody else. 

Harry glanced over when he heard Danny groan softly. "Something wrong?" he murmured. 

Danny flicked a glance at him. "I just realized I'm being taught by someone so much like my dad it's scary." 

Harry would have liked to find out what he meant, but Hagrid chose that moment to begin the lesson.

_(break)_

At dinner, Lavender and Parvati found out how exactly the day's prank ended. They weren't exactly willing to be in the Great Hall, but they'd been given no choice. 

About halfway through, there were several loud slurping noises, and they were suddenly bald. They stayed that way until Colin Creevey, who had never learned his lesson, took a picture of them like that. Their hair immediately went back to normal. 

Lavender and Parvati glared murder at Colin, who barely had the sense to start running before they got up.

Harry stared after them. "They're not going to be happy that he has a picture of them bald."

Danny smiled. "I know."

Ron glanced at him. "How did you do that, anyway?"

Danny shrugged. "I set the baldness to go away as soon as their skin was exposed to a bright flash of light, like a picture being taken."

Hermione shook here head. "What did poor Colin ever do to you?"

Danny gave her a dry look. "Thought I was Harry."

Harry's eyes widened and he looked at Danny with new respect. "I never would have thought of putting the girls on him." 

Danny grinned.

Ron glanced after where they'd gone. "Is he really that bad?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "No, not at all. He only takes pictures at every opportunity. And he also only manages to be there when I don't want him to be nearly every time." He spoke in a sweetly sarcastic tone. (5)

Danny nodded. "Not to mention, that damn flash is _bright_. Especially when he flashes you in the middle of the night just because you came downstairs." He flushed. "And I'm pretty sure most of my fan club paid him for that picture."

They gave him strange looks, and Hermione asked, "What were you doing?"

Danny got even redder. "More like what I wasn't doing. As in, wearing a shirt."

_(break)_

After dinner, Danny went to the Transfiguration classroom, where McGonagall was waiting for him. "Good evening, Mr. Fenton. Tonight we will be finding out how much you know in Transfiguration. Once we know that, we will be going on. Are there any questions?" 

Danny shook his head. "No, professor." He resisted the urge to tell her that what she said was very similar to Snape's speech, only nicer.

McGonagall nodded. "Then we shall begin. Start by turning this match into a needle."

_(break)_

(1) It's supposed to mean 'Night Light'. If anyone can think of a better name, please tell me.

(2) Anybody who can honestly tell me that isn't Snape's motto, say nay. _(crickets chirp)_ My point exactly.

(3) Sorry, but you're going to have to decide what goes on yourself. I haven't a clue how a Gryffindor 'We survived the first day' party would go.

(4) According to what I found on www. hp-lexicon .org/ index-2.html, that really is her name. I didn't make it up, but otherwise I'm making up her character. The name was the only thing I could find about her. 

(5) My dad calls it perky sarcasm. I use this tone a lot, especially when I have to deal with some form of stupidity. It creeps out my brother when I do it, but my dad just finds it funny.

_(break)_

AN: Hokay, I know you've all been wanting me to update, and I havent, but I have reason. I don't know how good it is, but eh, that's life. Basically, my muse hated this chapter. After a while, _ I_ hated this chapter. The next one isn't looking much better for it. Of course, that's only part of the reason. The other part is, as I said in a note in my profile, I haven't had internet access on my computer for a _while_. My dad had internet, but for whatever reason my jump drive, where I keep my stuff, doesn't work on his computer. So until the internet was once more fixed, I couldn't really do anything. Be happy, this isn't the only thing I'm posting today.


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: Don't own it, not sure I'd want to._  
_

_(break)_

Chapter 14

Wednesday morning, Danny was once more one of the first to go down to the Great Hall. He stretched happily, contemplating the chaos this day could become. 

'The girls are gonna_hate_ me if they ever found out I was the one who set all this up.' He grinned. 'I'm still looking forward to tomorrow. I think I'll ask Harry for help, he'll be able to help set things up.' Quickly finding his seat, Danny started in on breakfast. 'After all, I haven't exactly had much practice in the higher transfigurations, but the idea was too good to pass up.'

When Harry, Ron, and Hermione came down, Ron was slightly more coherent, but he was still more sleepwalking than anything. 

Hermione sat beside Danny and sighed. "Okay, I have to ask. What did you do for today?"

Danny grinned. "What, you don't know?" 

Hermione shook her head. "Neither one of them even came out of their beds this morning. I think they both had a mirror so they wouldn't have to leave if it was too horrible."

Danny grinned. "Don't they have Divination after breakfast? Wouldn't want to disappoint their favorite teacher, would they?" 

Hermione stared at him. "What did you do? And how visible is it?"

Danny sighed mockingly. "Well, I guess I'll just have to tell, since they haven't shown themselves yet." He grinned. "Ever heard the song about the One-Eyed One-Horned Flying Purple People Eater?"

Hermione blinked, while Harry and Ron simply looked confused. "I think so." Her eyes widened. "Wait a minute. You did _what_?"

Danny grinned. "Well, they still have two eyes, and they don't fly. I added some green polka dots, too, but that's basically it." 

Harry shook his head. "How'd you do that, anyway?"

Danny grinned. "Potion from that book of yours. It's actually fairly useful." He blinked, remembering something. "Oh, yeah. Care to help me set things up tomorrow, Harry?"

Harry blinked. "Uh, what's tomorrow?"

Danny glanced around to make sure nobody was close enough to hear him. Then he motioned them in and whispered his plans. After a moment, they all sat back and stared at him. Finally, Harry spoke. 

"You are _evil_." He grinned. "I'm in."

Hermione looked torn. "You really shouldn't be doing that to them." 

Ron snorted. "Mione, how many times have you complained about those two? Why not get some payback?"

Danny nodded. "Besides, it's only for a day. It all disappears at dinner, just like always." 

Hermione sighed. "All right. But I'm better in Transfiguration, so I should probably do that part." She glanced at her watch. "I have to get to Arithmancy. I'll see you later." 

Harry, Ron, and Danny had a free period, so they didn't have to be anywhere in particular, but Danny slipped out at the same time as Hermione. 

Danny made his way to the Tower with an evil grin on his face. 'I wonder if they're still hiding or if someone has forced them out. I'd be happy to help if no one else has.' 

Danny was only slightly disappointed when he found that the girls had already left by the time he got there. After all, he might not have been able to scare them out of the room, but that just meant that they were probably in class by now. And _that_ meant that other people would see them.

_(break)_

Danny spent his free period exploring more of the castle, since he didn't have any homework due that day. He quickly found that even with his ability to sense magic, it was incredibly easy to get lost. 

Thankfully, if he could orient on a specific type of magic, like when he'd gone to the Infirmary the first day back, he could find the places where that magic was strongest. That and the fact that he could go intangible were all that kept him from being late for Potions. 

Danny quickly slipped into the classroom with seconds to spare, hoping that Snape wouldn't notice him. "So nice of you to join us, Mr. Fenton." So much for that hope. "Care to tell us why you are only coming in now?"

Danny ducked down in his seat, blushing slightly. "Sorry, sir. I got a little lost."

Snape snorted but didn't say anything else. Instead, he went back to talking about the potion they would be doing.

Harry waited until they had all started their potions and Snape was on the other side of the room before he asked. "Where were you?"

Danny glanced at him. "I was exploring. I guess I lost track of the time."

Harry nodded, accepting that. 

Lavender and Parvati came in a few minutes after class began, and all could see what they looked like. Their skin was a bright purple, and the polka dots were neon green. The horns that extended from the center of their foreheads resembled a rhino's and were a much darker green. To add insult to injury, their hair and eyes were their normal color. 

Snape's lip curled in an almost pleased sneer. "So nice of you to join us. May I ask why you are late?" 

They both blushed brightly, making the polka dots on their cheeks seem to glow. "Professor Trelawney wanted us to stay after for a few minutes so she could try and divine who was pranking us," said Lavender.

Snape snorted. "Really."

Parvati quickly spoke up. "She said that whoever it is must be blocking her, since she could only see green."

Danny blinked when he heard that. 'Green? Weird. She probably pulled that from their dots and horns, but still.' 

Snape snorted. "You are wasting my time. Did the batty fool even give you a pass?"

They almost visibly bit back a retort and Lavender handed over the pass. They both went to the only two seats left, in the middle of the front row.

_(break)_

Ron first saw the girls at lunch, since he hadn't taken Potions that year. He shook his head and gave Danny an incredulous look. "Remind me never to get on your bad side."

Danny just grinned and didn't answer.

_(break)_

After lunch, Danny glanced at his schedule and made a face. "Gardening. Wonderful." His sarcastic tone was so thick you could practically cut it with a knife.

Ron shook his head. "I don't get it. Why do you hate Herbology so much?"

Danny gave him an ironic look. "Have you ever had your entire town almost eaten by plants because an overgrown shrub thought there was too much urban development?"

Everyone in earshot—which was all of the Gryffindors who had Herbology—stared. Finally, Neville was the first to find his voice. "When did _that_ happen?"

Danny frowned. "Uh, about a year or so ago." He shrugged. "I didn't exactly like working with plants before that, so that pretty much killed it for me." He sped up a little to enter the greenhouse they'd be working in, getting away from the staring Gryffindors.

Dean shook his head. "I can't tell if he's nutters or serious." 

Seamus glanced at him. "I think he was serious." 

Dean nodded. "Yeah, I was afraid you'd say that."

_(break)_

Dinner had finally arrived, and those who were wondering what would happen to Lavender and Parvati this time were becoming eager. The two just wanted the day to be over so they could look normal again.

As before, when it started the change wasn't too noticeable. It started with all the green polka dots warming briefly before they seemed to explode in a harmless shower of light. It started at the toes and worked its way up, only visible when it got to their hands and faces. Just as the last dots on their foreheads burst, the horns fell off and disappeared. 

With the green dots gone, the two looked more like human-shaped grapes than anything. Then the purple evaporated into a kind of steam and wafted away. 

Lavender and Parvati blinked in surprise. Parvati finally spoke. "That was kind of pretty." Lavender nodded agreement, and that was that for the day.

_(break)_

That night, around midnight, Danny felt a familiar magic working nearby. Quietly transforming, he turned intangible and invisible and phased through both his curtains and the wall to get to the Sixth year girls dorm. He peeked in at both the girls and snickered before casting his own spells. Once he was done, he went back to bed.

_(break)_

Danny made very sure he slipped out early on Thursday. After all, he really didn't feel like being deafened. He grinned evilly. 'Sometimes, I love being me.'

Down in the Great Hall, he was one of the few early risers there. Several of the teachers were already at the table, as well as a few students. The students seemed to be mostly concentrated at the Ravenclaw table, which didn't surprise him. 

A half hour or so later, most of the Gryffindors came down about the same time. Danny blinked, wondering what was going on. After all, they usually didn't come down until later. 

Hermione glared at him as she dropped into the seat across from him. "What. Did. You. Do?"

Danny shrunk back slightly, surprised. "What do you mean?" 

Harry sat next to Danny, and Ron dropped into a seat next to Hermione. "She means, why did Lavender and Parvati get ejected from bed at seven so they had to scream and wake the whole tower instead of just staying in their beds like they did yesterday?" Harry sounded more than slightly annoyed as he spoke, but he didn't look at Danny.

Danny grinned sheepishly. "Oops. I thought I set it for later than that. I figured if they tried the same thing they did yesterday, the least I could do was get them up before classes." 

Hermione almost growled, and Danny suddenly thought about bolting. "We had to deal with their crap. When they woke up most of the tower. Because you wanted them up before classes!"

Danny very carefully leaned back, away from her. He discreetly tried to find a way to get up without having to take too long. "Uh, yes?" 

Later, Danny would note that Hermione did not like being woken early in the morning. He would decide that it was a really bad idea to admit blame for something she didn't like until she was calmer. At that moment, he had only one thing on his mind. 

'Holy shit, does she ever give up!' 

Danny was running for his life from an enraged Hermione. Hermione wasn't thinking straight, or she might have used her wand. Behind Hermione, there was a horde of Danny's fan girls all yelling something along the lines of "SAVE DANNY!" (1)

Danny tried everything to lose Hermione, even if it was only for a moment. But even enraged, she knew more about the school than he did, and he didn't have an opportunity to hide in a wall, like he had the first time he'd learned of his fan club.

Danny finally pulled ahead enough to dart around a corner and turn invisible and intangible. Fortunately, no one was around, since he knew he wouldn't have another opportunity.

Hermione suddenly ran past, with a thundering horde on her heels. Danny waited until they were gone before he casually snuck back to the Great Hall, careful to stay invisible. Once he got there, he quickly made sure neither Hermione nor the others were around before he became visible and calmly went back to his seat as if nothing had happened. 

Remus snickered when he saw Danny Fenton re-enter the Great Hall, obviously trying to be casual. It might have worked if he hadn't been so obviously nervous. He decided to watch a little longer, and didn't regret it when he saw what happened next.

Danny sat down and started to go back to his breakfast when Harry suddenly spoke. "Danny?" 

Danny jumped about a foot into the air and held his fork like he was about to stab whoever had spoken. Then he realized that it was just Harry, and blushed brightly. "Ah, sorry. What?"

Harry smirked. "I see you lost Hermione." 

Danny nodded. "Yeah. Hopefully she'll be calmer by the time we get to class."

Harry's smirk grew slightly. "Good luck with that." 

Danny sunk in his seat, hoping the day would get better.

_(break)_

The first class that day was Charms. Nothing of note happened until Lavender and Parvati came in. Flitwick took one look at them and squeaked, falling off his stack of books in pure surprise. Several girls shrieked when they saw them, and everyone stared, even Danny. They both just laid their ears back and quickly found seats. 

'Huh. I didn't get a good look at them last night. Hermione did a good job.' 

As mentioned, both had ears. Large rat ears on top of their heads complete with the occasional chunk missing. Their front teeth had been lengthened, and hung over their lips. To complete the picture, they both had large, naked rat tails dragging along behind them. 

After a moment, Flitwick managed to clamber up onto his books. "Yes, well, ahem. I'm, ah, supposed to tell you what we're doing this year." He shook himself and seemed to force himself to move on, though he couldn't help but glance at the girls now and then. 

_(break)_

After class, Danny stretched, flexing his hands. Having to take so many notes with a quill wasn't exactly his idea of fun. Sighing, he dug out his schedule to see where he was supposed to go next. "History of Magic next, huh? Well, everybody says that most people fall asleep in that class anyway, and the teacher doesn't care," he murmured.

Following his classmates, Danny was able to find the right room, but before he walked in, his ghost sense went off. Frowning in confusion but still cautious, he walked in. Looking around, he quickly grabbed a seat and tried to figure out where the ghost was. His ghost sense went off again, and he glanced toward the front of the room in time to see an old man float through the wall. 

Danny closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. 'Great. I forgot, somebody said this class is taught by a ghost. There goes any chance of me sleeping through it.' Sighing, he pulled out his homework, figuring he might as well get a head start on that.

_(break)_

Lunch was normal, though nobody could help but stare at Lavender and Parvati, who did their best to ignore everything. From the way their ears kept flattening, it wasn't working.

After lunch, Care of Magical Creatures went fairly quickly. Danny cautiously followed Hermione to Ancient Runes, though she seemed to have calmed down quite a bit from morning.

Just before they entered class, Hermione glanced at Danny, who simply watched her. "Next time you set up a wake-up like that, warn me first." She didn't wait for an answer, simply entered the classroom and sat down.

Danny blinked but quickly followed. 'Note to self: stay on her good side. It's safer.'

_(break)_

At Dinner, nearly everyone was watching Lavender and Parvati, waiting to see how this one would end. They were not disappointed. 

It started with a loud noise like someone sucking a noodle into their mouth. The tails quickly shot up and disappeared. The ears traveled up their heads until they met at the top. They seemed to struggle up off the girls' heads and took off flying like a bat. The ear-bats flew around the Great Hall once before they escaped through the same window the owls used to deliver mail. By the time they were gone, Lavender and Parvati's ears were back to normal. 

The longer teeth stayed for a few seconds longer, but soon dropped out of their mouths with loud clunks.

Needless to say, nobody thought the ending for this prank was 'pretty.'

_(break)_

After dinner, on the way back to the Gryffindor Common Room, the trio was trying to get Danny to tell them about tomorrow's prank. It wasn't going well.

"Come on, why can't you just tell us? You told us about today yesterday." Ron protested. 

Danny gave them a mischievous grin. "I only told you because I needed some help. I'm not telling you tomorrow's."

Hermione practically growled in frustration. She hated not knowing things. "Would you at least give us a hint?"

Danny paused for a long moment, considering it. "Well… alright. One hint." He glanced around to make sure nobody was there and then leaned in close. All three also leaned in, eager to hear. "Let's just say I'm saving the best for last." He calmly turned away, trying to contain his grin at their stunned faces and failing miserably. 

Harry was the first to find his voice. "That's it? What kind of hint is that?"

Danny grinned and spun around to walk backwards. "Well, you never said it had to be a_helpful_ hint."

_(break)_

(1) Sorry, I couldn't resist.

_(break)_

AN: I'm having issues with Friday. I was thinking that all this and Friday were getting too full, and I didn't like it at all. Then I realized that if I just split this up, Wednesday and Thursday are long enough to stand on their own. Hopefully I'll have Friday up soon. That prank is _fun_.

You know, I just now managed to get this thing loaded to FF. net. I've been trying since at least Thursday. Hope you enjoy.


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: If you consider how long it's taken someone in the Danny Phantom industry to show the last season in the US, you might think I'm involved. Sadly, I'm not._  
_

_(break)_

Chapter 15

That night, Danny once more went to cast his spells. Just before he left, he whispered, "And now for the finale." If anyone had been able to hear him, they might have shivered at the amount of glee in his voice. He'd had to use his laptop to get some ideas for this one, but it had been worth it.

_(break)_

The next morning, Danny paused in the Common Room and listened carefully. He could already hear the first notes. Satisfied, he grinned and went down to eat his breakfast. 

Sometime later, the rest of the Gryffindors started to trickle down, as well as other houses. Soon, the two he was interested in came down. 

When the people in the Great Hall first heard the song, many of them wondered what to make of it. Some of the Muggleborns turned to stare at the door, wondering if they'd really heard that right. 

_It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood,  
A beautiful day for a neighbor.  
Would you be mine?  
Could you be mine?_

Dean was staring at the two girls the music preceded. "Uh, Lavender? Parvati? What's going on?" 

Lavender sighed while Parvati resisted the urge to pound her head on the table. "We're not sure, but I guess this is today's prank. That …_song_ has already repeated twice. This is the third time we're forced to listen to it." 

As if it heard her, the music and song suddenly stopped. But before anyone could sigh in relief, the same voice that had been singing spoke up. "Has it really? Well, I better step back then. Wouldn't want to get in anyone's way, now would I? Goodbye, neighbor." 

They breathed a sigh of relief, but before they could say anything a new song started. 

_You are my sunshine my only sunshine,  
You make me happy when skies are gray.  
You'll never know dear how much I love you,  
Please don't take my sunshine away..._ (1)

Parvati moaned and finally gave into the urge to pound her head on the table. 

_(break)_

On the way to their first class of the day, Danny hung back and told the trio to go to DADA without him, though he wouldn't say why. 

"Do you think we should have waited for him?" Hermione wondered out loud. 

Ron shrugged, not having to ask who she meant. "He told us to go on ahead. Besides, if he gets lost, somebody will point him the right way." 

Harry simply nodded in absent agreement, curious about something else. "I wonder what all he has planned for today?"

Hermione gave him a strange look, distracted from her worry about Danny. "Don't you know? I mean, you said you read that book."

Harry shrugged. "It doesn't work quite that way, Mione. I know that they'll be followed around by different songs all day, but I don't know what songs Danny will use."

Ron blinked, and even Hermione looked a little lost. Harry sighed. "Okay, it works like this. When you do the spell, you have to keep in mind what songs you want, and roughly what order you want them to be in. I don't know what songs Danny chose or when they'll be used, but I do know that he will use them." He grinned. "We all know he wouldn't let them off with just breakfast, after all."

Ron and Hermione both smiled at the truth in that. Ron was really just enjoying the pranks, while Hermione was glad that Lavender and Parvati were the targets. They had always gotten on her nerves.

_(break)_

By the time they got to DADA, the Sunshine song was over. Unfortunately, the one that had replaced it was just as bad, if not worse.

_I'm a Barbie girl, in the Barbie world  
Life in plastic, it's fantastic!  
You can brush my hair, undress me everywhere  
Imagination, life is your creation  
Come on Barbie, let's go party!_

"That one is strangely appropriate," Hermione muttered. Harry and Ron weren't exactly familiar with Barbie, so they didn't understand what she meant. Hermione just shook her head. "I'll explain later."

_(break)_

Danny was headed to DADA when his ghost sense went off. It felt much stronger than the castle ghosts, so he told Harry, Ron, and Hermione to go on without him. After all, if he had to fight a ghost, he didn't really want them around. 

When nothing happened for a moment, he shrugged, still cautious, and went on. Just before he walked into class, his ghost sense went off again, but this time something happened.

Danny felt something hit him between the shoulder blades and yelped in surprise as he was knocked straight into class. Automatically allowing himself to roll forward, he whirled to stare at what had hit him. He couldn't help a surprised blink.

"Cujo? Hey, little guy, what are you doing here?" 

Remus couldn't help but stare at the sight of one of his students talking to a bright green puppy. "Mr. Fenton, would you mind telling us what's going on?"

Danny started to answer when Cujo sniffed, then suddenly growled and grew much bigger. Danny's eyes widened in surprise as he saw Cujo look like he was about to attack Remus. "Cujo, sit!" Automatically, Cujo sat, barely noticing the student who had come in at that moment. 

Terry Boot let out a pained yelp when Cujo sat on his foot. He was forced to get help from his two friends, Michael and Anthony, to free himself. "What's with the dog?" Anthony wondered.

From behind them there came a calm female voice. "He came with me." 

Danny looked up, a little startled, but he smiled at the semi-familiar voice. "Hey, Dora. Haven't seen you guys in a while." 

Dora calmly floated around the three boys, who quickly decided to find their seats. "Word has been spread around the Ghost Zone of where you had gone, Sir Ph-ah, Fenton." 

Danny tensed slightly but relaxed when Dora remembered what he'd told her. Then he sighed in annoyance when her words registered. "Let me guess, Vlad decided that he needed to let all the ghosts know where I was, just so I wouldn't get bored." He growled under his breath. "Stupid fruitloop." 

Dora smiled slightly at his sarcasm. "If you wish to see it that way, you may." She'd grown bolder since the first time she'd run into Danny and his friends, especially Sam, so was much more outspoken than before. 

Danny rolled his eyes, and turned back to Cujo. The big dog was no longer growling, but he kept a close eye on Remus anyway. "Hey, Dora, do you have a stick?"

Cujo perked up in interest when he heard that, and was even happier when she produced one. Danny grinned and edged around Cujo to get it. "Hey, boy, come on. You wanna fetch? Come on, let's play fetch, huh?" He backed into the hall, waving the stick around to get Cujo to follow him. 

Everyone in the class except Dora, who was used to Danny's behavior with Cujo, did a collective blink. Finally, Ron spoke. "Well that was bloody weird."

Remus couldn't help but agree with him. "Where is he going, anyway?"

Dora shrugged. "He will likely lead Cujo to the nearest window and throw the stick from there." 

Hermione's jaw dropped. "He's just going to throw that stick out a window and make the dog chase it!"

Dora looked at her a bit strangely. "Of course. That way it will take Cujo longer to find it and return." Hermione and several others spluttered in alarm. "If you are worried about Cujo, you need not be. He will be fine." 

Danny came in before they could recover from her words. "Dora, no offense, but I sincerely hope you guys aren't planning to stay too long. There's only so long I can keep Cujo occupied with playing fetch."

Dora smiled slightly. "Don't worry, Danny. We won't stay long, though it will be difficult to convince Cujo to leave." 

Danny rolled his eyes. "I know. He likes me, and he's not smart enough to understand school."

Hermione chose that moment to cut in. "Danny, where's the dog?"

Danny blinked, almost having forgotten he was still in class. He blushed slightly when he realized that most of the class was staring at him. "I threw the stick and he left. He'll be back in a few minutes, though." 

"But where did you throw it?" she persisted.

Danny tilted his head curiously. "Out the nearest window. I think he was heading for the Forest, but I didn't pay much attention." 

There was an immediate clamor of objections as they all tried to explain how a dog, even one as big as Cujo had gotten, could be hurt or even killed in the Forbidden Forest. Ron's notable addition was the acromantulas, most of which were at least twice as big as Cujo.

Danny felt like he was hit by a solid wall of sound. Without thinking, he put two fingers in his mouth and let out a piercing whistle, which cut through the noise and made several people wince. "Alright. Thank you. I don't know why you're all so worried, anyway." 

Dora sighed. "I tried to explain it to them, but I don't think I succeeded."

Cujo trotted through a wall and dropped the stick at Danny's feet, obviously wanting him to throw it again. Danny sighed. "Come on, boy, let's go." He waved the stick teasingly as he backed out of the room, and Cujo happily followed. 

Most of the students stared after him. Finally, a random Gryffindor spoke. "That dog walked through a wall."

Dora smiled at their confusion. "I told you that there is nothing to worry about. Cujo is a ghost, as am I."

_(break)_

Instead of finding a window, Danny decided to go to the stairs and see how long it would take Cujo to retrieve the stick from there. "Come on, boy, come on. See how long this takes you." He tossed the stick out, and leaned over the rail to watch. Cujo dived over the rail and went after the stick, which seemed to miraculously miss landing on any of the stairs and headed to the bottom. 

Danny sighed in relief and turned to go back to class. Unfortunately, he had gotten distracted and didn't notice when someone came up behind him. 

Danny yelped in surprise when he nearly hit Snape, and stumbled back a few steps. "Professor. I didn't know you were there." 

Snape merely raised an eyebrow at him. "And what, pray tell, are _you_ doing here, Mr. Fenton? I do believe Sixth Year Gryffindors are in DADA, correct?"

Danny rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Ah, that's a bit hard to explain. A couple of friends showed up, and I'm trying to keep Cujo distracted."

Snape sneered. "One of these days, you will have to think of a proper excuse. I do not have time for fiction." 

Danny's eyes narrowed in anger, and he quickly turned away. "If you think it's an excuse, Professor, you will have no problem with meeting someone who is supposedly 'fictional.'" His voice was cold as he turned back toward the DADA classroom. He idly wondered which song the girls were on by now. 

Snape raised an eyebrow at Danny's behavior, but decided to follow from pure curiosity. 

Danny smiled grimly when he heard Snape following. 'I wonder how he'll react to seeing a ghost in class. Not to mention what will happen when Cujo gets back.'

_(break)_

Dora decided to introduce herself to the class after Danny left and soon she and Remus were talking. She found that she could relate well to him, and neither saw any point in Remus trying to teach anything while she was there. Both doubted they'd be able to get the students to concentrate on the lesson, let alone be able to do so themselves.

Dora looked up when she heard footsteps, and a moment later Danny returned. She frowned when she saw the restrained anger in Danny's eyes. 

Danny smiled slightly when he met Dora's red gaze. "Hello, Dora. Cujo should be back in a few minutes, but Professor Snape wanted to be sure you existed." 

He shot an annoyed look at the man, and Dora suddenly understood. 'Oh, why must so many humans be so foolish? Danny hates having to lie, especially since he has to do it so often. And he especially hates having his word questioned when he speaks the truth.'

Snape's eyebrow shot up when he saw Dora, but he otherwise refused to show surprise. Still, it wasn't every day that you saw a green woman in Hogwarts. Unless, of course, it was a prank, but that didn't seem to be the case. "And you are?"

Dora smiled calmly, though inside she was annoyed. 'Arrogant fool of a human.' "I would think that it would be considered rude to ask for the name of someone before introducing yourself, but I suppose standards of rudeness may have changed. I am Princess Dorathea, but most call me Dora." 

Snape raised an eyebrow, slightly surprised. "Professor Severus Snape. Why are you here?"

Danny yelped in surprise and staggered when Cujo again slammed into him, knocking him flat on his back. Danny barely managed to get his arms up to protect his face before Cujo started trying to lick it. "Ack, dog slobber!" Cujo was still in his larger form, so he effectively pinned Danny where he was. 

Dora's lips twitched in a mischievous smile as she answered. "Cujo is quite fond of Danny, and of course wanted to visit when we found out where he was."

Danny turned his face away, and blinked at a bright flash. "Hey!" He would have protested more, but Cujo managed to lick his face while he was distracted. Since his mouth was open, this meant that some of Cujo's slobber got in his mouth. Danny sputtered in disgust. 

Dora's smile widened slightly. "I believe you said there was one advantage Cujo had over most dogs, last time he did something similar." 

"Pah! Yeah, no—pah—dog breath." He managed to get the last of the dog slobber out of his mouth and frantically rubbed his mouth against his sleeve, just to make sure. He was somewhat hampered by trying to keep Cujo from licking him any more.

Snape sneered, and was about to say more when the music that surrounded Lavender and Parvati changed. From 'I'm a Barbie girl,' it went to another cheery song.

_The sun'll come out_

_Tomorrow_

_Bet your bottom dollar_

_That tomorrow_

_There'll be sun!_

_(break)_

Snape sneered at the music and turned to walk out, muttering something about foolishness. No one else seemed to realize that he'd left, though Danny noticed that he shuddered at some of the lyrics. 

Dora just stared for a long moment. Unconsciously imitating Sam the last time she'd seen something particularly strange in the Ghost Zone, Dora muttered "Oookay." She shook her head and turned back to more important matters. 

"Come on, Cujo, get off him." She reached for his collar, and the huge dog growled at her. She frowned. "Don't make me sssay it again, Cujo." She started transforming into a dragon, knowing that Cujo was unlikely to obey her otherwise. 

After a long moment, Cujo finally backed down and returned to his smaller size. He hopped off Danny, and Danny calmly sat up to brush himself off. "Ugh. This is disgusting."

Dora smiled, already returning to human form. "Would you like some help?"

Danny grimaced in disgust. "If you don't mind." 

Knowing he couldn't do anything ghostly around other people without some questions being asked, Dora reached out and touched his shoulder, turning him intangible. The worst of the dog slobber dropped off, but Danny's clothes were still wet. 

Danny smiled slightly. "Thanks, Dora. Let's see if I can get the rest of it." He pulled out his wand and paused a moment, trying to remember the right spell. Once he had it, he performed a cleaning charm on himself and sighed in relief when it worked. 

Dora raised her eyebrow at the display of magic. "So it is true." 

Danny looked at her. "What do you mean?" 

"Your location was not the only thing Skulker was telling anyone who would listen. He also said that this was a magic school, and that you were learning here." 

Danny sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "I could really get annoyed with him." He glanced up and decided to change the subject. "I see you've been practicing. Is Aragon still bothering you, or have you finally beaten him enough times to get him to shut up?"

Dora sighed. "He is as arrogant as ever, but between my own abilities and the fact that Cujo is willing to take my side, even against Aragon, things _have_ gotten better." 

One of the Ravenclaws was unable to hold back his curiosity any longer and raised his hand. When Remus called on him, he asked, "If you don't mind me asking, how do you two know each other?"

Dora frowned and looked questioningly at Danny. Danny frowned, but nodded. "Edited. Phantom and I are friends," he murmured, just loud enough for her to hear. She nodded agreement and turned to the class as Danny found his seat.

Dora took a deep breath, and began to tell a highly edited version of what had actually happened. She told them about the beauty pageant, and how she'd chosen Danny to be the judge, implying that he'd been sitting with his friends in the auditorium. 

"I was told to choose Danny specifically, because he knew ghosts well and would presumably know the type of girl that a ghost would want. It may seem strange to you, but it was what my brother ordered, and at the time I felt I had no choice."

She told them about how Sam signed up for the beauty pageant and accidentally found out that she was a ghost. 

"Of course, Danny was distracted with his duties as judge, and I was preventing Sam from saying anything. It wasn't until she was on stage and forced to show some talent that she was able to tell him that I was a ghost with a Goth Haiku." 

She glanced at Danny, and he blushed. "By the time Danny realized what she'd meant, Lancer was asking who Danny chose as the winner. He called after Sam, inadvertently naming her winner." 

Danny let out a horrified snort of laughter. "Oh, the other girls were _not_ happy about that, even after Sam disappeared when the crown was put on her head."

Dora smiled slightly. "Yes, the crown transported us both into the Ghost Zone and also kept its wearer trapped inside the castle.

"Anyway, in the Ghost Zone, I was dressing Sam as a princess and telling her why she was there. She thought the idea of being picked as a bride for my brother through a beauty pageant was incredibly impractical, and I couldn't help but agree. But I'd already put the crown on her head, and at that point, I didn't think I'd be able to remove it. But Sam had her own ideas for how to escape the trap my brother had lain."

Dora told them about Sam coming in and blasting through the hall, acting like anything but a proper princess. Then, just as Aragon was about to remove the crown that kept Sam trapped, Danny and Tucker had grabbed her and started for the door. 

Danny ducked his head and muttered something about bad timing. 

"Aragon was furious that someone had tried to steal his supposed bride, even though he had decided that he didn't want her anymore. He transformed and blasted him out of the castle, ready to fight. 

"Inside, I was talking to Sam, who pointed out that I didn't need to do everything my brother wanted me to, since I have the same power he does. I also realized that if I had the same power Aragon did, I could remove the crown and free Sam." 

It was almost time to go to lunch by the time Dora was finished telling the story. By then, the song had run its course several times, and some of the students were seriously considering hexing Lavender and Parvati. But the day wasn't even close to being over, and the next song was up. 

_it's a world of laughter, a world or tears  
it's a world of hopes, it's a world of fear  
there's so much that we share  
that it's time we're aware  
it's a small world after all_

_(break)_

Lavender and Parvati managed to walk fairly slowly to Lunch, so by the time they got there, 'It's a small world' was almost over. There were several soft sighs of relief at that, but they only lasted until the next song started.

_99 bottles of beer on the wall, _

_99 bottles of beer! _

_Take one down, pass it around, _

_98 bottles of beer on the wall._

Although not many people recognized the song itself, it didn't take a genius to realize it would take a while for it to finish. 

_(break)_

By the time the song was over, lunch was also almost over. Many of the students and even some of the teachers found excuses to duck out as soon as they were finished eating, but for some it was already too late. Snape was only one of several people who'd gotten the song stuck in his head. 

Lavender and Parvati were headed to Transfiguration by the time the song ended and another began. When they heard it, they exchanged horrified glances as they realized their Professor would _not_ be pleased. 

_Did you ever think, when you eat Chinese  
It ain't pork or chicken but a fat Siamese?  
Yet the food tastes great, so you don't complain.  
But that's not chicken in your chicken chow mein.  
Seems to me I ordered sweet-and-sour pork  
_

_But Garfield's on my fork.  
He's purrin' here on my fork._ (2)

When the two walked into Transfiguration, many of them stared when they realized what the song was saying. A few wondered why they hadn't simply skipped the class and taken the detentions they would have gotten. 

The Slytherins decided it probably had something to do with the vaunted Gryffindor bravery—otherwise known as stubbornness and stupidity. 

McGonagall's nostrils flared as she breathed deeply, obviously trying to contain her temper. Her patience was further tested when a green woman floated through following a green dog. "Excuse me, but I have a class to teach. Would you mind telling me why you are here?" 

Dora blinked, a little impressed that the woman was being as polite as she was when she obviously wanted nothing more than to kick them both out the window. "I am sorry to interrupt, but I do not know what I can do with Cujo."

Danny sighed. He knew exactly what she meant. Then he frowned in consideration and raised his hand. McGonagall raised an eyebrow but motioned for him to speak. "Professor, is this room set against an outside wall?" 

McGonagall blinked at the strange question but nodded. "Yes, Mr. Fenton it is. Why do you ask?" 

Dora smiled, getting the idea. "Which wall is it?" McGonagall motioned to the correct wall, her curiosity getting the better of her. She _was_ a cat animagus after all. Dora floated over toward it, diverting briefly to hand Danny a stick. 

Danny threw the stick at the wall as hard as he could. Considering all his fights with ghosts, this was pretty hard. Just before the stick hit the wall, Dora turned it intangible. Cujo tore out after it a moment later. 

McGonagall couldn't help the slight smile that twitched at her lips. "Very well. I do hope you try not to disrupt my class any more than you have to." 

After that, Transfiguration went somewhat normally only by sheer force of will. Since it was the will of Gryffindor's Head, it actually managed to work out fairly well. 

Of course, even McGonagall couldn't do much about a dog that would happily trot through a wall so one of her students could throw a stick. Fortunately, it went better than it might have without Dora's help.

Around the middle of class, 'Cat in the Kettle' finally stopped. It was quickly replaced by another song. 

_We are Siamese if you please  
We are Siamese if you don't please  
We are from a residence of Siam  
There is no finer cat than I am_

McGonagall frowned. She'd had the misfortune to run into Siamese cats before. They were more arrogant than the worst of the Purebloods and every bit as petty as the typical teenage girl. She 

couldn't help a small smile as she remembered shredding the ear of a particularly arrogant Siamese.

The rest of the class went a bit more smoothly, but something odd happened just before they were dismissed. The siamese song was stopped suddenly, almost cut off in mid-word, and a childish voice began to speak. 

_Fuzzy Wuzzy  
was a bear.  
Fuzzy Wuzzy  
had no hair.  
Fuzzy Wuzzy  
wasn't really fuzzy,  
was he?_

There were some strange looks at that one, but everyone shook it off and went to dinner. 

_(break)_

By the time dinner came, another song had begun, and several of the Muggleborns couldn't hold back shudders. 

_I love you,  
You love me,  
We're a happy family,  
with a great big hug,  
and a kiss from me to you,  
Won't you say you love me TOO!_ (3)

Dumbledore applauded the end of that one. "Ah, how easy it is to lose sight of the good things in this world." He would have gone on, but another song came up. This one caused a much more violent reaction than most so far. 

_Are you ready kids!  
I said are you ready!_

_Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?  
(SpongeBob SquarePants!)_

Some people had bewildered looks while a few absently danced in their seats to the bouncy tune. One Seventh year Gryffindor reacted very differently. 

Leaping to her feet, a certain redhead snarled. "Kill it! Kill it now!" (4)

There was a sound like a record being stopped suddenly, and an innocent, confused voice spoke. "Why? Don't you like my song?" 

If anything, this made the redhead even madder. She raised her wand and hissed, "Die, abomination!" Before she could actually do anything, a completely different voice spoke. 

"For self-preservation reasons—and because the temper of a redhead is legendary—we will be moving on to our last song of the day. Please welcome N-Sync in "Bye, Bye, Bye." 

_(Hey, Hey)  
Bye, Bye, Bye  
Bye, Bye...  
Bye, Bye...  
Oh, Oh..._

As the song played, the redhead calmly put her wand away, sat down, and returned to her supper. She ignored the wary looks her tablemates were giving her. 

_(break)_

(1) You have no idea how annoying that song can be until you hear it several times in a row. See, my school has something called the Sunshine Society. There was one day a year where they had to go through this initiation thing. I can't remember what all it was, but among other things they had to wear a backwards flannel shirt and a roll of toilet paper around their necks, and go up to every senior member and sing_that song_. shudders

(2) Here's a link to the lyrics for this song, if you're interested. Just take out the spaces. www. kanyak .com/ ckettle. html 

(3) You wouldn't believe how easy it is to annoy my brother sometimes. Just start singing this, and he goes nuts.

(4) Yes, before you ask I decided to make a cameo appearance.

(5) Most songs found at www. keepersoflists .org/index. php?lid1864 

_(break)_

AN: Okay, before you say anything let me apologize for the extremely long wait. I'm really, sorry, but frankly this chapter was being an absolute bitch. In fact, this isn't even what I had first planned for this particular prank. The original idea was for some very strange party dances that they had to do all day. As you can probably imagine, it didn't work nearly as well as I would have liked, so I left it alone. I finally got the idea for this from something else--and I'm not even entirely sure how I made the connection anymore so don't bother asking. Anyway, I only finished writing this thing a bit ago, so if you notice any glaring errors, please tell me._  
_


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: *Slowly edging out, using Danny as a shield* If you kill me, there won't be any more story!

Chapter 16

A week or so after the infamous 'Prank Week,' Danny lay on his bed in the early hours of the morning, wondering if he should get up or just stay there. The bed was comfortable, but he was far too active to be content with just laying there when he was wide awake. It didn't help that he needed so little sleep since he'd changed and adapted to his new life. For him, sleeping in was getting five or so hours of sleep instead of three or four.

With a sigh, Danny stood and stretched. Grabbing a change of clothes, he ignored the robes as he went to take a shower. By the time he was done and had returned briefly to pick up a few things, some of the early-bird Gryffindors had started to stir.

Deciding he really didn't feel like dealing with people right now, Danny set off to find a good place to find some privacy. He found an empty classroom and made sure no one was around before he changed to his ghost form. Danny yawned widely and stretched, glad of the chance to be Phantom.

Turning intangible and invisible, Danny flew upwards until he was outside and above the school. He grinned and flew around a few times, enjoying the air.

After some time, Danny finally landed in the top of one of the taller towers after he made sure it was unoccupied. He didn't feel like having someone walk in while he was distracted, after all.

Danny sighed happily as he settled in a warm patch of sunlight and decided to practice something that he hadn't had the chance to perfect.

Calling up an ecto-blast but not firing it yet, Danny began to concentrate. Slowly, he managed to make it float away from him, but it soon blasted off just like a normal one. Frowning, he tried again.

Nearly half an hour later, Danny finally got what he was trying to do. The ecto-blast was lazily floating around him, leaving brief patterns in the air from the light trail. Concentrating harder, he made it go faster, until it was going fast enough for him to write in air.

When he thought he finally had the hang of it, Danny got the ecto-blast to slow down and summoned a second one. He was able to hold both of them until he tried to make the second float around the way the first was. He almost instantly lost control of both. Danny sighed, not particularly surprised. That had been about as far as he'd gotten before, too, and he hadn't been able to get away and practice for a while.

Danny blew out his bangs out of his face and decided that that was enough for the moment and changed back to human form. He pulled out the ecto-staff his mom had given him and began to practice.

Some time later, Danny was sweating but pleased with himself. It had been too long since the last time he had last managed to get away for a while and have some time to himself. He had been practicing down by the lake, but whenever he did that, he seemed to gain an audience.

On the plus side, he really didn't have to worry about being bullied here like he had been at home. Even without his fan club, anybody who could see his skill and how built he looked didn't mess with him. With his fan club… Danny shuddered. 'I'd pity anyone who crossed that pack.'

Danny smiled as he thought back to when he had told Sam and Tucker about his new fan club. Tucker was laughing too hard to be of any help, and even Sam had found it funny. Tucker had obviously remembered them saying it wouldn't happen when Dumbledore and Snape had first visited his house.

At the time, they'd gotten distracted, but Sam had e-mailed him and suggested that he just tell them he was taken. Danny had done the best he could and now his entire fan club knew he had a girlfriend. Unfortunately, they hadn't taken it very well, and he ended up staying out of sight whenever possible. Of course, that had been made slightly easier after Hermione taught him an incredibly useful spell.

_Flashback_

Danny hid in the sixth year boy's dormitory, praying that none of the girls would get up the nerve to come up here. He was mostly safe, except for the Gryffindors. Of course, he still had to deal with Lavender and Parvati.

Danny's head snapped around as he heard a female voice coming up the stairs. Without thinking, he turned intangible and dropped through the bed. 'This is pathetic. I almost wish I could just walk out invisible and intangible, but then I'd have to answer questions on how I did it, and I don't know the right spells to do it. Heck, I don't know if there even _are_ any spells to make someone intangible.'

Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked around in confusion. Finally, Harry spoke. "Huh. I thought he was up here."

Hermione shook her head. "Are you sure he didn't come down?"

Ron glanced at her. "Do you really think even _he_ could get through the Common Room in broad daylight when nearly every girl in fifth and sixth year are looking for him? Not to mention the ones from other years."

Danny blinked as he realized that it wasn't who he had first feared. Crawling to the edge of the bed, he peered out from under it. Seeing only the trio, he cautiously rolled out from under the bed on the side away from them. "If I could, don't you think I'd have tried it by now?"

All three of them jumped when they heard him and turned to see him standing up from beside his bed. Hermione was the first to speak. "How, where were you? We already checked all around the beds."

Danny smiled. "Well, you obviously didn't check _under_ the bed." They stared at him, and he hunched up slightly in embarrassment. "_You_ try having a good portion of the school trying to either mob you or convince you to give up your girlfriend and give them a chance." He collapsed backwards on his bed.

Hermione snickered. "Don't worry Danny; you don't have to worry about that with me. We just came up to get you for tutoring."

Danny groaned. "Is there any way you can postpone that or something?" The look Hermione gave him could have melted steel. "Lovely. Any way I can get out of here without being mobbed?"

Before they could answer, Danny heard someone coming up and dived under the bed. A moment later, Lavender and Parvati came in. "Aww, where is he?"

Hermione coughed to hide her laughter as she answered. "Er, we're not sure. I've been trying to find him for tutoring, though." The two girls pouted but believed her and left.

Danny groaned as he came out once more. "Again, is there any way I can get out of here without them noticing?"

_End Flashback_

Danny smiled slightly. Hermione had ended up casting a spell that made him less noticeable, which worked better the more people there were around. He had practically begged her to teach it to him, and ended up using it to move around the halls for several days.

Danny checked the time and raised an eyebrow in surprise. He had already been away for almost two hours. 'Well, breakfast should still be going. If not, Harry already showed me where the kitchens are.'

Danny soon found the stairs and quietly made his way down. Towards the bottom of the stairs, Danny concentrated and slowly he began to fade. Soon, he became more washed out and less noticeable.

When he reached the bottom of the tower, Danny turned invisible and stuck his head through the door to make sure there wasn't anyone around. Seeing no one, he quickly pulled back and turned partially visible once more.

It didn't take long to realize that he was in a lesser-used hallway not far from the Library. Quickly orienting himself, he went down to the Great Hall, where breakfast was indeed still in progress. 'Guess I shouldn't be too surprised. It's only 8:30, after all.'

Ron looked up when Danny sat down across from him. "Hey, Danny. Where were you, anyway?"

Danny smiled slightly as Harry and Hermione glanced toward him, obviously wondering the same thing. "I woke up early, and decided to get some time to myself. I even managed to find a room where I can get some privacy once in a while."

Harry looked at him curiously. "Where's that?"

Danny gave him a dry look. "If I told you, somebody else would hear, and before long my 'fan club'," he made a face at the mention of them, which made the others laugh, "would find out and it wouldn't be secret anymore. Then I'd have to find somewhere else to go."

Harry realized he was right, and decided not to ask again.

When everyone got their mail, Tobias came in with the rest and perched on Danny's shoulder. Danny handed him a piece of bacon as he ate his own breakfast.

When an owl dropped a small package in front of Danny, he stared at it for a long moment. "Huh? Since when do I get mail?"

There was a note stuck to the top, so Danny picked it up and read it. After a moment, he looked at the box again.

Hermione couldn't hold onto her curiosity. "Who is it from?"

Danny frowned. "It's from Sam and Tucker. It just says the explanation's inside the box."

Ron shrugged. "Why don't you open it, then?"

Danny shrugged and picked it up, but paused the moment he did. He could sense a ghost inside. 'They wouldn't have. Would they?'

Danny got his answer when the box suddenly opened and a ghost with blue skin wearing overalls burst out of it. "I AM THE BOX GHOST! FEAR ME!" When everybody just sat staring at him, he looked around. After a moment, he looked down at Danny. "Uh, what are you doing?"

Danny looked up from beating his head against the table. "Why are you here?"

"The dark girl and the rival of Technus sent me." He shrugged. "Here is a note from them." He reached into the box and handed Danny a piece of black paper with silver writing.

Danny sighed and took it, ignoring the fact that everyone in the room was staring at him.

_Don't get too mad at us, we just thought you might be missing having the Box Ghost around. After all, you're the one who's always talking about 'misplaced aggression.' _

_Sam and Tucker_

_P.S. It was Tucker's idea. I wanted to get rid of him, but it was funnier to send him to you._

Danny felt a smile trying to come across his face. As annoying as the Box Ghost would probably be, he had to admit that they were right. There wasn't really anyone around that he could really cut loose with when he got annoyed. And if nothing else, the Box Ghost _could_ walk—or fly—away after Danny beat the crap out of him.

Danny looked up and spoke in the most deadpan voice he could manage, pitched so most of the hall could hear him. "Oh joy, they sent me the Box Ghost. My life is now complete."

_(break)_

Since it was Saturday and a nice day out, Danny decided to go flying. He glanced over at the Quidditch Pitch and saw that he wasn't the only one to have the same idea. There were several people on brooms, who seemed to be racing. "Hmm." A mischievous smile crossed Danny's face, and he flew over at top speed.

Harry glanced up when he heard a strange sound. It was almost like and echoing laugh, but since they were outside and in mid-air, there was nothing to echo off of. Unless… "Phantom?"

Green eyes popped into sight less than a foot away and upside down. "How fast can those brooms fly, anyway?"

Harry jerked back, caught by surprise. "How are you doing that?"

Danny shrugged, which looked strange since he hadn't bothered to turn right side up. "I can fly, remember? And even your ghosts can turn invisible." He floated around until he sat cross-legged in mid-air. "You didn't answer my question."

Harry blinked. "Uh, my Firebolt can fly 150 miles per hour. It's the fastest broom known."

"So no one else here can go that fast?"

"Nope."

Danny grinned. "Care for a race?"

Harry blinked, but then he grinned back. "Sure."

For the first time in a while, Harry was able to truly cut loose with his broom's capabilities. His friends, who were flying their own brooms, could only stare in awe at the reddish streak that crossed the sky. Very few seemed to realize the black streak that was weaving across the sky in counterpoint wasn't just a trick of their eyes.

Occasionally the black streak led the red, and the red went even faster. Sometimes the black streak disappeared, which was what made those few who thought about it convinced that it was merely a trick of their eyes.

Danny laughed happily as he flew. It was one of the major things he loved about having ghost powers, but he rarely got to go at full speed unless there was a dangerous situation going on. Here, he could just race and lead and have fun. 'Is this what they mean when they talk about reaching for heaven?' (1)

_(break)_

After a while, the two flyers decided to stop. Danny was panting slightly and Harry looked more windblown than ever. Ron laughed when he noticed that Harry's hair looked the same as it always did.

Harry just glared and growled something about an uncooperative mop. Then he glanced over at Phantom, who looked like he was about to leave. "Hey, do you mind if we ask you some questions?"

Phantom blinked, caught by surprise. "What do you mean?"

"Well, Mione's been practically bombarding us with questions about how you and that dragon woman are different from the other ghosts. She couldn't find anything in the library, and she only stopped obsessing when we promised we'd ask you." Ron replied calmly.

Phantom raised an eyebrow. "Why didn't she just ask Dora?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "When I asked her, she muttered something about dragons and women."

Phantom snickered. "Good reason not to ask. So, where do you want to go?"

_(break)_

After some discussion, they ended up going to the roof. Of course, Hermione objected to that. "Why do we have to go up there? Why can't we just find a quiet spot somewhere else?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "Because nobody knows much about Phantom and he wants to keep it that way, remember?"

"But—"

"You're taking too long," Phantom announced. "Why don't we just go up to the roof?" He grinned at Hermione. "Consider it a condition for answering. Besides, it's much harder for someone to sneak up on us up there."

Hermione sighed but finally consented. "All right, fine. But how am I supposed to get up there? It'd take too long to try to get to the roof from inside, and I can't fly a broom."

Phantom shrugged. "Oh, no worries. I got that one." He calmly picked her up and took off into the sky, looking for a suitably flat space on the roof to set down. After all, he could float but the other three couldn't.

Hermione took a deep breath when she saw how high they were and how quickly they'd come. Phantom carefully hid his grin. "If you scream, I'm gagging you."

Hermione managed to hold it back and instead clutched at him tightly. Danny was inwardly relieved that he didn't need oxygen quite as badly when he was in ghost form. It helped for those times when he couldn't breathe.

Glancing down, Danny finally spotted a suitable spot and swooped down. If possible, Hermione's grip tightened even more. Danny landed on the roof and tried vainly to get her to let go. Unfortunately, it wasn't working and he was beginning to feel the need to breathe. Finally, he had to go intangible, and she dropped to the roof with a startled shriek.

Almost immediately she was back on her feet. "You dropped me! Why did you drop me?"

Phantom just looked at her. "We got here about five minutes ago. I tried to get you to let go, but it didn't work."

Hermione blushed brightly, and a few minutes later, Ron and Harry landed. Ron frowned as he glanced between Phantom and a blushing Hermione. "What's going on?"

Phantom shrugged. "I got tired of being choked and had to go intangible to get Hermione to let go of me. When she got annoyed with me for dropping her, I told her why I had to." They nodded understandably and settled down. Phantom sat a few inches above the roof. "So, what did you want to ask me?"

Hermione immediately forgot both her embarrassment and her fear of heights. "You're obviously different from the ghosts that are tied to Hogwarts. How are you different?"

Phantom considered that for a moment. "Power, mostly. You see, the ghosts here don't have enough power to even become solid on their own. But the ghosts I've known for years not only have the power to go solid, they have the power to do other things, like the way Cujo and Dora can grow into different forms. Boxy is a relatively weak ghost, but even he can levitate objects, mostly boxes but also what's in the boxes."

"Do you know why it's like that?" wondered Harry.

Phantom shrugged. "I think it's partially a balance, but these ghosts also didn't make it to the Ghost Zone. They were too tied to their locations, the places they've always known, to be able to move on even as far as the Ghost Zone."

"What's the Ghost Zone? And what do you mean a balance?"

Phantom grinned. "Okay, the Ghost Zone is basically where all the ghosts hang out. It's a kind of parallel dimension. As for the balance…" He considered it for a moment. "As far as I know, none of the ghosts I've dealt with knew about wizards. Except maybe Dora, but I think her living time was far enough back that it was before the wizards pulled away from muggle society. I don't know, I haven't asked."

Ron frowned in confusion. "Why not?"

Danny shrugged. "It's kind of considered rude to ask about a ghost's living time. If they bring it up, sure, but otherwise it's not something you do."

The three of them nodded their understanding nearly in unison, and Phantom had to bite his lip to keep from laughing at them. Then Hermione's swift mind leaped to what he'd said before.

"So, if none of them knew about magic, does that mean they were muggles? It would almost make sense. Muggles didn't have much power in them directly in life, so they get more after they died, while wizards had power when they were alive, so they can't have any after they've died."

Phantom nodded. "Yeah, that's kind of what I figured out. There're probably exceptions, but I don't know of any. Considering how big the Ghost Zone is, though, that doesn't mean a lot."

There were a few more questions, mostly to clarify certain points. At a lull in the conversation, though, Harry decided to ask something that he'd been wondering about for a while. "Why did you change your outfit, anyway?"

Phantom blinked, caught by surprise. "What?"

Harry frowned. After the visions he'd been given, he was the only one of his friends who knew what Phantom's old outfit had looked like. "Well, it's kind of a big change. I was just wondering why you did it, that's all."

Ron and Hermione looked between the two in confusion. Finally, Hermione spoke. "What do you mean? What did your old outfit look like?"

Danny looked up into the sky as he felt his cheeks heat in a blush. "When I first started out as a ghost, I wore a black and white jumpsuit. The boots, belt, collar, gloves, and my symbol were all white, while the rest was black. I was fourteen, and really small and skinny.

"After a year or so, I had grown somewhat, and put on plenty of muscles. I don't exactly get much chance to look in the mirror, but Sam pointed out that my jumpsuit was pretty much skin tight. And I wasn't exactly small and skinny anymore."

All three stared at him. Danny did his best to ignore them, staring upwards with a bright blush lighting up his cheeks. Hermione was the first to snicker. "So you decided you needed a change because everyone could see—"

"—pretty much everything, yes." That was too much for Ron and Harry, who practically fell over, they were laughing so hard. Danny glared at them, though a slight smile was twitching on his lips. "Yeah, well, see how you react when you realize Dash Baxter has been staring at your ass."

None of them knew who he was talking about, but the comment just set all three of them off even worse than before.

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(1) Before anyone asks, no, I don't know where I got that from. It just popped into my head and since it seemed appropriate in the situation, I don't mind putting it down.

(2) Okay, this is just my personal idea for why the ghosts Danny knows and the ghosts the wizarding world knows are so different. Feel free to dispute it if you wish, I don't mind.

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AN: Okay, before anyone decides to hunt me down and kill me, there is another chapter after this. I'll post it in a few days. *waits out any cries of outrage* Before you ask, I prefer doing it this way because I like getting comments on my chapters, not just having people read this one, read the next, and then comment. If they comment, doesn't really matter to me if you decide not to. Anyway, yes I know it's been forever. Yes, I know there are people likely ready to hunt me down and kill me. But there is another chapter, and I will be working on more after this. Hopefully, it won't take me another year or so to get more up, huh?


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: New chapter! Please don't pass out in shock at the fact I've managed to update twice in the same month.

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Chapter 17

_Sometime in November…_

Danny was stretched out on his stomach on the floor of the Gryffindor Common Room, working on some homework. Normally, he'd be a bit closer to the fire, but after the first time he'd found out it was a bad idea while doing homework. A stray spark had lit the edge of his parchment, and he'd barely managed to put it out in time.

He would have to get to McGonagall's classroom for tutoring soon, but since he had a bit of time he was getting some work done. It was easier than having Hermione harp at him later.

Suddenly, there was a weight on his back, and he craned his neck around to see a large calico cat perched on his back. When he stared at her, she simply looked at him and settled down. Danny sighed; he'd almost forgotten how much cats seemed to like him since the accident when he was fourteen.

Danny shrugged as well as he could with the cat on his back and went back to his homework.

One of the seventh years snickered. "Hey Katy, did you see where your cat is?"

The same redhead who had objected so strongly to the Spongebob song glanced up from her book. "Yeah, I noticed. She's picky, too." She turned back to her book. "Did you notice the kittens?"

Susan blinked and glanced back at Danny, who was trying to ignore the two kittens. The white one was perched on his head, and was sniffing curiously at the calico. The black one was batting at his quill, and she was a bit harder to ignore.

Most of those in the Common Room had noticed the spectacle by now. Unfortunately for Danny, Colin Creevey was one of the people there, and he had his camera with him, as usual. Danny sighed. He just knew that picture would have circulated by tomorrow or Thursday, if it took Colin longer to develop the film.

"Hey Danny, don't you have to get going? It's almost 8:20," Hermione pointed out.

Danny's eyes widened and he immediately swept all of his books, parchment and quills into his bag, not noticing when he accidentally included the black kitten. Then he tried to sit up, but couldn't. The calico was still perched on his back. "Great. A little help here?"

Katy snickered. "Here, let me get her. She won't like it if you dump her." She uncurled from the couch and walked over, scooping the large calico off his back. Danny immediately scrambled to his feet, grabbed his bag, and was out the door in seconds.

Katy calmly stroked the purring cat in her arms as she returned to her seat. "I wonder how long it'll take before he realizes he has passengers."

_(break)_

Danny bolted down the hall, running at almost full speed. Usually, he tried to give himself at least fifteen minutes to get from the Common Room to McGonagall's classroom. This was really a good idea since the stairs started moving more as it got dark out.

Fortunately, the stairs were being more cooperative than usual, and he managed to skid to a halt outside of the Transfiguration classroom with about a minute to spare. He took a deep breath and calmly walked in.

McGonagall gave him a wry look. "Right on time, Mr. Fenton. May I ask why you brought company?"

Danny stared at her blankly for a moment, and then felt something against the back of his neck. Startled he reached back and came up with a white kitten, which had evidently hidden in his hood.

Then he heard a soft mewing sound and reached into his bag. He came up with a certain black kitten, and blushed as he realized he must have shoved her in while he was packing his bag. "Uh, sorry, professor. I guess they came along for the ride."

McGonagall's lips twitched as she tried to hide a smile, but her amusement showed in her voice. "Perhaps you should return them to the Common Room."

Danny blushed even more brightly and nodded. "Yes, professor." He started to turn to leave when McGonagall called him back.

"You can leave your things here, Mr. Fenton." Danny nodded quickly and easily slung his bag off onto a nearby desk. Then he turned and left, the kittens already climbing over his hands and trying to climb his chest.

McGonagall waited for as long as she could before bursting out laughing. 'Oh, the look on his face!'

Danny's blush began to fade as he made his way back to the Common Room, but it was back in full force when he heard laughter from the Transfiguration classroom. He quickly walked along, finally giving in and letting the kittens perch on his shoulders. One immediately dropped into his hood while the other started batting at his hair again.

When he got back to the Fat Lady's portrait, he quickly said the password and set both kittens inside, making sure they were out of the way before he quickly closed it again. He left quickly, hoping no one had noticed him.

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For once, a potions lesson was going reasonably well. Snape was in less of a snarky mood than usual, and had simply put the directions for the potion they would be doing on the board.

Of course, it was only about ten minutes into the lesson, but you have to find the good things where you can. But we all know that some things can only last so long, and a reasonably calm Potions lesson was one that wouldn't last much longer.

Danny was just moving to add an ingredient to his potion when Neville's exploded. For once, the ruined potion didn't cover Neville. Instead Danny, who had the misfortune to sit beside him, was covered in a disgusting bright pink goop.

Snape snarled from across the room and stalked over. "Longbottom, you idiot! I didn't think even _you_ could make such a mess of this particular potion!"

While Snape was reaming out Neville, Danny carefully reached behind him until he found a clean section of his robe and scraped most of the gunk off his hands. Then he reached up and wiped it off his face. After a moment, he spoke. "Professor, what is this stuff?"

Snape blinked and turned to look at Danny, who was still mostly covered in the messed-up potion. "Go down to the Hospital Wing, Mr. Fenton. If I find you went anywhere else, I'll take fifty points from your house."

Danny simply sighed and nodded. Then an absolutely disgusted look crossed his face, and he spat out some of the potion that had managed to get in his mouth. He didn't notice it turning in mid-air to land on his arm. Turning, he walked toward the door, leaving pink footprints behind.

Snape raised an eyebrow in interest. The potion wasn't dripping off of Mr. Fenton, even though it was still liquid enough to slide around on his clothes. And despite the footprints, he wasn't actually leaving any potion behind. Turning back to Neville he snarled. "How did you even get ectoplasm? It is an extremely rare ingredient! If I find even a drop of it missing from my stores—!"

Danny closed the door and sighed. 'Great. My luck it's something attracted to ectoplasm, too.' He paused for a moment as he thought of that, and shook some of the goop off his hand. It turned in mid-air and hit him in the stomach. 'Thought so. Of course, it could just be attracted to itself.'

When he was almost to the Hospital Wing, Peeves came out of the wall in front of Danny. The poltergeist was at first a bit scared, until he got a good look at Danny. "Hahahahaa! Pinky halfa!"

Danny growled and swiped his hand through the air, sending some of the potion flying. It made a nice 'splat' sound when it hit the annoying ghost in the face. Peeves was caught by surprise, and tried to wipe it off, but it just got on his hands. He wiped his hands on his clothes to try and get them clean, but it just got on his clothes. He turned invisible, but the pink splotches stood out, showing where he was. Finally, Peeves turned and rushed through a wall to hide until the pink went away.

By the time Danny got to the Hospital Wing, he was in a much better mood. 'Hah. Peeves won't be able to do as much damage if he's pink. It won't do him any good to try to turn invisible, 'cause this stuff is bright enough to practically glow in the dark. He probably won't show his face at all until it wears off.'

Madame Pomfrey looked up when she heard someone coming in, and blinked when she saw who it was. "Mr. Fenton?" She walked up and tried to banish the potion. "What happened to you?"

Danny rolled his eyes. "Neville's potion exploded and decided it liked me. _He_ didn't get a drop on him, but I get covered in pink goop." He frowned when Madame Pomfrey tried to banish the potion again. 'Is it just me or is there more of it?'

Madame Pomfrey scowled. "What is this? It should be gone by now." She tried a cleaning charm this time.

Danny sighed. "I think you're just making it worse."

Madame Pomfrey raised an eyebrow as she considered that. "There does seem to be more of it." She considered the problem for a moment. "I suppose you'll have to do this the muggle way. There's a bathroom in the corner, wash off while I send a house elf for clean clothing."

Danny sighed but did as he was told. He simply stripped off the robe and dumped it in a corner. Looking down at himself, he groaned. 'Great, it soaked through or something. It's all over my clothes.' Of course, when he took those off, he found that it was also on his skin. 'I really hope this comes off with hot water.'

Fortunately for Danny, the potion washed right off. His skin looked a bit like he had gotten full-body sunburn, but didn't feel any different. 'Guess it's just a color thing. Oh well, I can deal with looking like I have a sunburn. That's not so bad.'

Getting out, Danny quickly found the towel and clean clothes waiting for him. Danny had his jeans on and was drying his hair before pulling the shirt on when he noticed something in the mirror. 'Oh, please tell me I'm just seeing things. Or that the mirror is being annoying. Please don't tell me…' He trailed off in thought and reached up to pull a hank of hair into view. 'As if I could be so lucky.'

Danny pulled on the shirt, ignoring the robe, and dropped the towel on the edge of the sink. Reflected in the mirror, was a pink Danny. Not just his skin, though he looked like he had been in the sun too long. His eyes and hair were also pink, though his hair was much darker than the rest. Turning, he walked out and automatically oriented on Neville.

Neville was almost to the Hospital Wing. Class was over, and he had gone to make sure Danny was alright. 'I don't know him very well, but I might as well check.' Just then, a very pink Danny came into view. Neville could only stare.

Danny gave Neville an icy glare. "Neville. _Run._"

Neville didn't even think twice before turning on his heel and taking off as fast as he could. In fact, he even managed to tap into his magic and make himself even faster. It didn't help. Danny was on his tail, running at a speed that would make sprinters drool.

Neville thought fast, taking as many corners as he could to try and buy time. The only thing he could think of was to go down to the Great Hall, where lunch was being served, and hope that Danny wouldn't murder him with so many witnesses. Thinking that, he immediately turned toward the quickest way to the Great Hall.

Danny skidded slightly around the corners that Neville took, but never lost the trail of the panting boy. He barely registered where they were going, simply wanting to kill the other teen.

Neville was panting hard when he finally reached the Great Hall, but he had just enough of a head start on Danny to leave a slippery puddle of cooking oil in front of the doors. Hopefully it would slow him down.

When Neville burst into the Great Hall, several people stood up, wanting to know what was going on. One of those was Harry, and Neville almost immediately dived behind the green-eyed boy. "Help! He's going to kill me!"

Harry craned his neck around, trying to look behind him at Neville. "What are you talking about? Who's going to kill you?" Harry got his answer when a boy dressed in a black shirt and jeans with pink hair literally slid into the room.

Danny made it to the doors only minutes after Neville did, and slid as he hit the puddle. Without really thinking about it, he allowed himself to slide, but grabbed the edge of the nearest table to redirect his momentum. The puddle was still making him slip, so he jumped onto the bench and did a forward roll to get past it, coming up near the end of the Gryffindor table.

Everybody stared at the spectacle of a pink, murderous Danny Fenton. At the Slytherin table, Draco Malfoy snickered softly. He stopped immediately when Danny turned slightly to give him a soul-shattering glare that instantly beat the worst that Snape had ever given. Said teacher raised an eyebrow, impressed.

Harry was extremely tempted to step aside and leave Neville to Danny when Danny walked up, but he wasn't in Gryffindor for nothing. "Uh, Danny, shouldn't you reconsider killing Neville?"

Danny gave him the same look that he had given Malfoy. After a long moment of this, he spoke. "Move." Harry didn't even think, just automatically stepped to one side, leaving a cowering Neville in clear view.

Danny stepped forward and glared at Neville. "What. Did. You. Do?"

Neville looked like he wanted to dive under the table, but he stayed, mesmerized by his own fear and the menace in Danny's eyes. He felt like a mouse being stared down by a cobra. "I-I-I d-d-don't n-n-know!"

At the head table, Dumbledore finally decided it was time to interfere. Remus noticed and carefully edged away from the headmaster. Dumbledore ignored him. He was about to say, "Daniel, you shouldn't terrorize the students." He only got as far as "Daniel—"

Danny didn't even look away from Neville as he reached into a pocket and came up with an ecto-gun. It had been in the pocket of his other pants, and he hadn't left anything there behind. Without missing a beat, he shot at Dumbledore, forcing the man to duck awkwardly. He had found out first-hand that no shield made of magic would block an ecto-blast.

Danny calmly lowered the gun, still staring Neville down, but seeming much calmer. "For someone who is supposed to be so wise and powerful, you don't seem to learn very well, _Headmaster_." He calmly put away his ecto-gun, and turned to leave. Near the edge of the puddle Neville had left, he jumped onto a bench by the Ravenclaw table, and leapt over the puddle. "Someone should probably clean that up," he commented idly.

By the time anybody got up the courage to see where he had gone, Danny was nowhere to be seen. Fortunately for him, the pink that colored his hair, skin, and eyes turned invisible with the rest of him. 'I'm going to be using that 'notice-me-not' spell Hermione taught me for a while…'

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Danny sat in Transfiguration just before class began, trying to ignore some of the Slytherins snickering at him. Madame Pomfrey hadn't been able to do much about the pink color, but she did tell him it would probably wear off on its own. His skin was already normal, but his hair and eyes were taking a bit longer. Hopefully, it'd be gone by the time he got on the computer to talk to Sam and Tucker on Saturday.

Of course, after shooting at the Headmaster, he had been assigned several weeks of detention with Professor McGonagall, but it wouldn't start until that night. Something about the way she was acting, though, he wasn't quite sure what to expect.

Danny had his quill in hand so he could take notes, but he frowned when his ghost sense went off. None of the Hogwarts ghosts would interrupt a class unless it was an emergency, so he looked around the room, trying to figure out where the ghost was.

Suddenly, Danny was tackled out of his seat and thrown into the aisle. McGonagall looked over, about to say something, when she was interrupted by the ghost that had tackled Danny. "Will you be my friend?"

"Klemper? Get _off_ me!" Danny tried to throw the other ghost off, but he had been caught by surprise in the first place, so it wasn't exactly easy. Finally, he managed to slip out of his robe and left it in Klemper's grasp.

Breathing heavily, Danny got to his feet. "Why are you here?" He shook his head. "Never mind. _How_ are you here?"

Klemper grinned and floated above the floor, not seeming to notice any of the other students as he held out his arms and let go of Danny's robe, which was frozen stiff by Klemper's breath. "Will you be my friend?"

Danny sighed as he caught his breath. '_Lovely_ place for this to be happening. Do they conspire to make my life difficult?' Out loud, he said, "Klemper, how the heck did you even find me?"

"I wanna be your friend!" Klemper breathed out ice, and Danny barely dodged in time to prevent himself from becoming an ice sculpture, though he didn't escape completely. His right leg was encased in ice from the knee down. Danny gritted his teeth and pulled out the Fenton thermos, quickly sucking Klemper in.

Danny sighed as he looked around, surveying the damage. Klemper hadn't been there long enough to do much, but a couple of the desks were iced over. Fortunately, the students had managed to escape being covered in ice.

Awkwardly getting to his feet, Danny ignored the other students, most of who were staring at him. It only took him a moment to reach his ice-covered robe. He picked it up, but snorted in disgust and dropped it on the floor. The frozen cloth promptly shattered.

Danny settled into the nearest seat, ignoring the people who were _still_ staring at him, and began to chip at the ice around his leg. Finally, McGonagall spoke. "Mr. Fenton, why don't you go down and see the nurse."

Danny made a face, but reluctantly agreed. "All right. Can I get some help? It's kind of hard to walk with this thing."

McGonagall was about to say something when Harry, Ron, and Hermione volunteered. Or rather, Hermione volunteered herself and her two friends. "We'll help, Professor."

McGonagall smiled, slightly amused as she noticed Harry making a face that nearly matched Danny's when she told him to go down to the Hospital Wing. "All right. But don't dawdle."

Hermione and Harry quickly went and helped Danny to his feet, letting him lean on them, since they were fairly close to the same height. Ron, who towered over all three, gathered up Danny's things under Hermione's direction, and soon the small group was out the door and on their way.

Danny sighed as he awkwardly hobbled between Harry and Hermione. "Great. Oh well, at least he didn't manage to completely cover me. First time was bad enough."

Harry frowned at him. "Wait a minute; you've been covered in ice before?"

Danny winced as he realized what he'd just said. "Ah, not exactly. It was just partially, but I had to stand by a heater for nearly an hour before I felt warm again."

Hermione frowned, but didn't say anything. 'There's something very strange about Danny. He's not evil though, I'd bet my life on that. In fact, in a way I already have. Teaching someone magic _can_ be dangerous.

'He's not working for Voldemort or trying to get Harry into trouble, either. The only reason he's even friends with us is because we've been tutoring him so he can keep up. And he really hasn't revealed much at all about himself. I'm sure he wouldn't have even told us that his parents are ghost hunters if Nick hadn't brought it up.'

Realizing that they had finally reached the Hospital Wing while she was lost in thought, Hermione followed Harry's lead as he moved toward his usual bed. "Come on, might as well let someone else use this one."

Danny gave Harry a strange look at that. "What do you mean?"

Ron snickered as he set Danny's bag beside him. "He means this is the bed he lands in whenever he gets hurt. I think Madame Pomfrey threatened to put his name on it and make it officially his."

Harry gave Ron an annoyed look, not contradicting the statement. Before he could say anything else, Madame Pomfrey herself came out.

"Potter? What are you doing here? You haven't gotten hurt again, have you?" She did a quick visual check on him, ignoring the amusement that Hermione and Ron weren't bothering to conceal.

Harry held his hands up in defense. "It wasn't me this time, honest!"

Danny snickered, drawing Pomfrey's attention to him. "Actually, it's me this time." He pointed to his leg, which was getting cold under the ice.

Pomfrey frowned and quickly cast a spell that melted the ice. Casting more to take care of any frostbite, she frowned. "Potter, go get me a Pepper-Up potion. Mr. Fenton, how did this happen? That wasn't made by magic." She calmly accepted the asked-for potion from Harry.

Danny rolled his eyes. "I didn't dodge fast enough." He frowned, severely annoyed. "I don't know how that idiot managed to catch me by surprise," he muttered as he absently took the potion Pomfrey held out to him.

Madame Pomfrey sighed as he just held it for a moment. "Drink that. It'll warm you up and you won't have to worry about catching a cold. And you still haven't answered my question."

Danny frowned, but did as told. He blinked in surprise when he felt warmth spreading through him. Though he couldn't tell for sure, he thought it might have brought his temperature back up to human norm for a moment before his normal temperature took over and it rapidly slackened off.

Pomfrey had turned away to take care of the used potions bottle, so she didn't notice something strange. When most people took the Pepper-Up Potion, their ears steamed like a tea kettle. Danny's did not. Hermione, Ron, and Harry noticed, but they shared a glance and decided to discuss it later.

When Pomfrey came back, she calmly told the trio to go back to class. "Go on, I'm sure your professor told you not to dawdle." She noticed them hesitating, but turned back to Danny. "You're staying here until dinner to make sure nothing goes wrong. If you're still fine by then, I'll let you go."

Harry gave Danny a sympathetic look, but was still quick to make his escape in case Pomfrey decided to hold onto him to make sure he wasn't sick or hurt. "Bye, Danny. We'll see you at dinner." He practically dragged Hermione and Ron with him as he left, but they simply waved without objecting.

Danny sighed as he watched them go. "Traitors," he muttered.

Pomfrey heard him and couldn't hold back a laugh. When Danny gave her a surprised look, she explained. "Don't mind Mr. Potter. He's in here far too often as it is, so I'm sure he was making sure I wouldn't try to keep him here just on principle."

Danny smiled slightly at that. "He sounds a bit like Tucker with that." Pomfrey raised an eyebrow, and he explained. "Tuck's got a phobia of hospitals. First time I found out about it, he froze up in front of the nurse's office at school. Sam ended up putting a paper bag on his head and leading him past, telling him to 'go to a happy place'."

Pomfrey laughed. "Some of the muggle-born are like that at times. I don't think any of them are out-right terrified of coming to the hospital wing, but I know a few of them who have friends who often end up dragging them in when they get hurt. Mr. Potter is a good example of that." Smiling, she nodded toward his bag. "I'm sure you have things to do, and I know I do." With that, she returned to her office."

Danny sighed. "I have a feeling this is going to be a long day," he muttered. Pulling his bag toward him, he dug through it for his homework and soon set to work.

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After dinner—Pomfrey was true to her word, and didn't let him go until just before dinner—Danny walked down to the Transfiguration classroom, ready to begin his detentions. He couldn't help a slight smile as he thought about why he was there. 'Anywhere else, I'd probably be expelled for that.' He winced. 'Of course, the lecture Hermione put me through was almost as bad. I wonder what detention will be like.'

McGonagall looked up when the door opened. "Mr. Fenton. I'm glad to see you made it on time."

Danny just nodded. "Yes, Professor."

McGonagall regarded him for a long moment. "Knowing Miss Granger, I imagine you've had quite a lecture already, haven't you?"

Danny winced. "Yes, Professor."

McGonagall nodded. "I thought so." She sat for a long moment, just watching him until Danny had to resist the urge to fidget. Finally, she spoke. "I teach a special, invitation only, Transfiguration class. Students who show a particular talent in the subject are able to learn certain high-end techniques. Specifically, the animagus transformation, if they have the potential for it."

Danny blinked. "Um, why are you telling me?"

McGonagall smiled. It wasn't a nice smile. "Mr. Fenton, you have detention for the next three weeks. In that time, I will attempt to teach you what the students in my special class have been learning for the last two and a half months. I will work you hard, and you will be expected to keep up in your other classes, so don't think of this as a reward."

Danny felt a chill that had nothing to do with his ghost sense.

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AN: Hey, everyone! Would you believe this wasn't the original Chapter 17? I tend to write a lot of stuff that isn't technically part of the story yet. Well, I read through some of it, saw a couple scenes, and said, hey, if I adjust that, edit that, add this… new chapter! And it fit best here. Go figure.

Out of curiosity, what do you think Danny's animagus form will be? I already know what I'll use, but I was wondering what other people think.


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: Um… no own Harry Potter or Danny Phantom?

Chapter 18

McGonagall kneeled gracefully in the middle of the floor with Danny kneeling in front of her. "First of all, what do you know about animagus?"

Danny frowned. "Not much. Just that an animagus is someone who can turn into some kind of animal that reflects who they are, and that you're a cat animagus."

McGonagall nodded. "Good. You'd be surprised how many people know even less than you do. To start with, there are several stages to learning the transformation. First, of course, is simply finding out what animal you are. There are two ways to do this. The first method is to take the Animagus Revealus potion."

"That's the one that only works for the person who brewed it, isn't it?"

McGonagall raised an eyebrow. "Yes. I wasn't aware you knew about it."

Danny grinned sheepishly. "Professor Snape had me brew it last week. He said something about it being a sixth year potion anyway."

McGonagall smirked. Trust a Slytherin to teach Danny a potion he hadn't even known he'd use. "Well, I'll ask Severus what he did with it later. For now, we'll go with the second method." Danny looked confused, but didn't object. "I imagine you're curious as to why."

Danny nodded. "Is the second way important in some other way, too?"

McGonagall raised an eyebrow, impressed. "Very good, Mr. Fenton. Five points to Gryffindor." Danny just smiled, pleased, and she continued. "To answer your question, yes. The second way is to meditate, and look for the animal in whatever mindscape you see. The difficulty inherent in this is that, for many students, their animal doesn't want to be found.

"Once a student has learned what their form is, whether they learned by potion or meditation, they must still meditate and try to change their own body parts into that of the animal's. This must be done for each part separately and several times, so that the body can 'learn' that form. Eventually, they will be able to do all at once, and at some point after that, students can physically become their animal."

Danny frowned. "That's not all of it, is it?"

McGonagall smiled. "Not quite. The last step is the most dangerous, and it is the one that most people balk at. Until they complete that step, they are not considered true animagus."

Danny leaned forward slightly, a fascinated look on his face. "What is the last step?"

"The last step is for the prospective animagus to meditate one last time… and face their own animal self."

Danny blinked, leaned back, opened his mouth, and then closed it again. McGonagall watched him patiently. Finally, he spoke. "I don't understand."

McGonagall nodded. "I'm not surprised. Many people don't." She straightened slightly, falling into lecture mode. "The thing you must remember is that in any mindscape, the 'owner' is in complete control. But when the human and the animal are both the same person, the animal will have the advantage in testing you. It can shape the landscape so that they have every advantage, and will only join with you if _it_ wants to."

She smiled ruefully. "I had quite a time convincing my cat to join me. But in the end, she did." She shook her head. "Anyway. There are several inherent dangers. Two of the main ones are that the animal might kill their human self. If that happens, the body changes to that of whatever animal their form is, and can't change back. They live out the rest of their lives as an intelligent animal."

Danny shivered slightly at the thought of that. "What's the other one?"

McGonagall nodded. "The other danger is that the person trying to become an animagus forgets that they need to form a balance, and kills their animal self. If they do that, they will forever feel that a part of them is missing, and they won't ever be able to transform again."

"Why take the last step if it's so dangerous? I mean, you said they'll never be a full animagus if they don't, but…"

McGonagall smiled grimly. "It is dangerous. But the problem with that is, if a person doesn't take the last step, every moment in their full form drains them, sometimes dangerously. If he or she tries to hold their form for too long or if they try to do it too often too close together, they could drop into a coma or even die, if they don't get to a healer in time."

Then her face cleared. "On that note, are you ready to attempt to learn the Animagus Transformation?"

Danny stared. "No wonder Hermione admires you so much."

_(break)_

Elsewhere in Europe, Voldemort smirked triumphantly. It had taken a lot of work, but he finally had a semi-stable portal.

Searching for clues about Clockwork himself had gotten him nowhere, but he had gotten an idea for something slightly different.

Voldemort knew from some of his spies inside Hogwarts—children of his followers, mainly, though Severus had given him some information—that several ghosts of a different type than the Wizarding World knew were at the castle. He had been able to find out much more about those types of ghosts, and had even found references to a 'Ghost Zone.' Once he had that, he'd researched ways to access this 'Ghost Zone.'

Voldemort smiled. On his snake-like face, the smile was made even more hideous by the evil intent behind it. 'If I cannot find reference to Clockwork here, I will have to search for him there.'

_(break)_

On the other side of the portal, a pair of haunted blue eyes stared at the new door in the Ghost Zone, wishing he dared try to close it.

_(break)_

It was Saturday, several days after Danny started learning about the animagus transformation, and Danny was finally getting a break. McGonagall had told him he was progressing well with his studies, so he could have a few hours to himself. Even Hermione couldn't hunt him down to make sure he studied, since he was pretty much caught up in classes by now.

Glancing around quickly to make sure none of his fan girls were around, Danny sank into a wall and made his way outside. It was a clear day out, though it was a bit cool, and he didn't have to deal with homework, so he had decided to go flying.

Stretching happily and spinning in mid-air, Danny enjoyed the freedom that always came with flight. He had transformed as soon as he was out of sight, and had no intentions of coming down before he had to, and maybe not even then.

Something that really annoyed him was that his fan club was still going strong. Several times, he'd collectively pranked the lot of them when they got out of control. So far, nothing had been as elaborate as his week of pranking Lavender and Parvati, but that was no surprise. It was hard enough collectively pranking such a large group without going for something truly elaborate.

Turning in mid-air so that he was on his back, Danny considered what he'd done so far. "Let's see, there was the neon green hair, I used some of the Twins' stuff for the next time, and last time I stole all their make-up and piled it in the Great Hall. Good thing I can make copies of myself, or that would have taken forever." He snickered. "Though, it was really funny when some of them refused to leave their dorms."

He sighed. "I wonder what I should do the next time they get out of hand." He paused, realizing what he'd just said. "Okay, _more_ out of hand. They're already bad enough."

Danny snorted and rolled over to look down at the ground. He wasn't the only one taking advantage of the good weather. A large green streak shot by, and after a moment it slowed enough to reveal Cujo. 'Thank God for Hagrid,' he thought. 'I'd never get any peace otherwise.'

After the first day, when Cujo had been driving him nuts, Ron had suggested taking him down to Hagrid. Curious, they all trooped down to Hagrid's hut and introduced the big man to Cujo. Cujo hadn't been sure of Hagrid at first. Then Hagrid threw a tree branch for Cujo to fetch, and Cujo decided that Hagrid was at least good enough to play with.

Danny had embarrassed the man incredibly when he began thanking him profusely for getting Cujo off his hands. Harry, Hermione, and Ron had just rolled their eyes and collectively dragged him away. Danny had been happy to go, and had to keep himself from floating up off the ground at the thought of not being interrupted in class by Cujo.

Dora had decided to stick around, since Cujo was still there. She had become somewhat responsible for the ghost dog, so he guessed she didn't want to leave him alone if she could help it. Of course, that wasn't the only reason she had stuck around.

Danny glanced down at the edge of the lake, where he could see a certain blond ghost. She and Remus had become good friends, and he sometimes wondered if they were dating. It was a bit strange to think about, so he usually didn't.

Looking around, Danny grinned and began to do circuits around the castle, building up speed as he did. Once he was whipping around fast enough, Danny split off and zoomed across the lake. He dived in at one point fast enough to create a large wave, which swamped the area Dora and Remus had been sitting, and popped up a few feet away.

Danny never slowed, grinning at the indignant shriek he heard from Dora. 'Guess she doesn't like getting wet.'

Hearing a loud roar behind him, Danny knew that Dora had transformed. He glanced over his shoulder and saw her bearing down on him. Laughing, Danny simply made a vertical loop over her head and took off before she could turn.

_(break)_

On the shore, Remus just shook his head in amusement and used a spell to dry himself off. Dora was chasing something, and he assumed it must be the spirit that had been making himself known in many small ways since the beginning of the school year. No one had gotten a very good look at him, but they did know a few things.

For one thing, he was a lot more solid than most of the other ghosts. Though Dora hadn't said much about him, she had admitted that he was the same type of ghost that she was. Another thing that most people knew was that he wore black clothing and had white hair, though he was only in his late teens.

Remus noticed the black blur that zoomed over Dora's head and grinned. Another thing that Remus had noticed but that wasn't talked about most of the time was that he was definitely a prankster. Often, the only sign of him was laughter echoing down the halls. It usually came just before someone stumbled into a trap, and soon everyone used the laughter as a warning sign.

_(break)_

Harry and Ron were on their brooms above the Quidditch field, playing a game with their classmates. Harry happened to glance over when he saw something black coming at him. At first, he thought it was a bludger, but then he saw that it was moving too fast and was followed by a large blue dragon. "Everybody down!" he yelled as loud as he could.

Taking his own advice, Harry dived below the level of the bleachers and watched everybody else do the same. Barely above the bleachers, the black blur zoomed by, followed by the dragon, though she wasn't moving nearly as fast.

Ron came up next to Harry and grinned. "Looks like Phantom is having fun."

Harry couldn't help an answering grin. "Yeah. I wonder what he did this time."

Ron shrugged, and soon the game resumed where it'd left off.

_(break)_

Danny glanced back at Dora, who was beginning to catch up. He grinned and looked forward once more…

On the other side of the tower he'd almost smashed into, Danny couldn't help but feel thankful for intangibility. He'd been working on making it reflexive, and that was the only thing that had kept him from crashing.

Dora managed to be more graceful than Danny. She'd seen the tower before him, so she'd been able to stop in time. Turning invisible and intangible, Dora stuck her head through the tower and grinned when she saw Danny.

Danny's ghost sense went off, warning him that Dora was still near, but before he could do anything about it, he was snatched out of mid-air. "Hey!" he cried out indignantly. Even so, there was a slight smile on his face. He knew he'd been caught.

Dora grinned. "You know, you really shouldn't have stopped. If you hadn't, I wouldn't have caught you, and maybe I wouldn't have decided to have revenge."

Danny immediately started struggling against her grip, but as a dragon Dora was too strong to escape. He tried intangibility, but she just countered it with her own. Finally, he gave up. "So now what are you going to do?"

Dora grinned. "Ask Remus if he has any ideas for revenge on a certain teenage hybrid." Danny's eyes widened in surprise, but before he could say anything Dora flew back to the lake, where Remus was still waiting.

Remus looked up and smiled when he saw the struggling form in Dora's hand. "I see you finally caught him."

Dora grinned. "Yes, I did. Remus, this is Phantom. Phantom, this is Remus Lupin."

Danny craned his head around from his awkward positioning, and nodded. "Hi."

Dora's grin widened. "How should we get our revenge?"

Remus smiled wickedly as he looked into horrified green eyes. "I think I have just the thing." He cast two spells. The first changed Danny's hair, the second changed his clothes.

Danny blinked as he felt the wind on his head and noticed Dora's barely controlled snickers. "What did you do?"

Dora, unable to speak, simply turned her hand invisible and held him over a clear part of the lake. Danny's horrified cry echoed across the grounds and caused the Gryffindors still playing Quidditch to look up.

It was the last straw for Dora, and she barely managed to roll onto her back to keep from crushing Danny as she laughed. Remus sat down hard, partially from his own laughter and partially from the impact Dora made when she landed.

Danny couldn't get what he looked like out of his mind. The feathery wings, quiver of arrows, and the bow hung over his shoulder were obviously an illusion, since they stuck out through Dora's fist, but the rest of it was all too real. His clothes had changed into a white cupid-type outfit, with a kind of skirt-looking thing around his hips and a white cloth draped over his shoulder.

But there was one thing worse than the embarrassing outfit. His white hair and been changed into a huge Mohawk, and was colored a bright pink. Then, when he didn't think it could get any worse, Dora spoke up again.

"Remus, do you have a camera?"

Danny's eyes widened and he could only think 'Please say no, please say no.'

Remus smirked. "Of course. Harry pointed out that it's almost required for a good prankster." He pulled one out of his pocket and raised it. "Strike a pose," he told Danny teasingly.

Danny tried to turn invisible, but Dora wouldn't let him. She turned herself invisible though, so she wouldn't be caught in the shot. Danny glared at Remus, his face bright red as the picture was taken.

As soon as Dora let him go, Danny flew straight up as fast as he could, hoping to stay away from everybody until the spells Remus had used wore off.

_(break)_

That night, Remus rounded up Harry, Ron, and Hermione, saying that there was something he wanted to show them.

Harry grinned when he came in. He recognized the gleam in Remus's eyes as mischief, and he couldn't help but wonder who'd been the target this time. "Hey, Moony. What did you want to show us?"

Remus grinned. "Well, I took your suggestion and started carrying a camera around full time. It was very useful this morning."

Danny growled softly and seriously considered snatching the picture away before Remus could show it to them. He had ended up staying in ghost form for most of the day, since he'd tried to revert to human and neither his hair nor his clothes had gone back to normal.

Remus caught the soft sound and a slight smile twitched at his lips. "Just so you know this isn't the original. I gave the original to Dora and made a few copies."

"Noooooo," Danny moaned in horror at his words.

The trio looked around, wondering where the sound had come from. Remus just smirked. "Why don't you just come out of hiding? Your clothes have changed back by now."

Danny growled at him, but stayed invisible. "My hair hasn't. Did you have to choose pink?"

There was a collective blink from the trio, and Remus laughed. "Oh, I'm sure I could have made it worse. Would you have preferred a brighter shade, perhaps?"

Danny glared at him, though it had no effect since Remus couldn't see it. "Pink is pink. And pink is evil."

Remus sighed dramatically. "You could just show them. I've got the picture right here anyway."

Danny sighed and finally let himself turn visible. Harry, Ron, and Hermione visibly gaped. Danny's normally long, white hair was now styled into a pink Mohawk. "When is this going to wear off, anyway?"

Remus shrugged. "Another hour or so."

Danny hung his head in embarrassment. Then it shot up as he realized something. "Wait, you gave Dora the original?"

Remus raised an eyebrow at him, but nodded. Danny immediately turned and began to pound his head against the nearest wall.

This time, they were all caught by surprise. Ron was the first to find his voice. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, I just realized something. I realized that Dora considers Sam a friend. I realized that Sam has been collecting things for use as blackmail on us for years now. I really realized that Sam is going to find this hilarious." The entire time he was talking, Danny never stopped pounding his head against the wall.

They blinked. "You mean Danny's girlfriend Sam? How do you know her?" asked Hermione.

Danny gave her a look like she had just asked the dumbest question on Earth. "Danny is a friend. Sam is Danny's girlfriend. Combine these facts, and it's not hard to figure out that I know Sam."

Hermione blushed. She hated feeling stupid, and she really hated making herself look stupid.

_(break)_

Danny had to wait to get his revenge on Remus, but he'd found the perfect spell to use. It even had a time lock on it. So Sunday evening, Danny split himself so 'Phantom' could be there for the prank, and waited where he knew Remus would eventually pass. After a while, he saw Remus and Snape walking down the hall, talking. More precisely, Snape was being snarky and Remus was making some subtle jibes of his own.

When they passed him, Danny used the spell that he'd picked for this particular prank. Though he was mainly aiming for Remus, he got Snape as well.

Remus knew that Danny was there, he just hadn't bothered to acknowledge him. When he felt his clothes and hair changing, he looked down at himself and snickered. Then he looked at Snape and burst out laughing.

Snape glared at him, but the effect was tempered somewhat by the changes Danny's spell had made. He wore huge red shoes and a hideous pink and purple clown suit, his hair had changed into a bright pink curly afro, and his face was white with a huge red frown painted on. There was even a red, bulbous nose stuck to his long beak.

When Remus refused to stop laughing, Snape snarled—which only made Remus laugh harder—and stalked off. His shoes made loud slapping noises that echoed through the hall.

Danny raised an eyebrow as he studied his original target. Remus was dressed very similarly to Snape, except his clown suit was bright green with blue polka dots. His hair was the same green as his suit and his shoes were a similar blue. He also had a smile instead of a frown.

"You know, I think I made that spell a bit too strong," Danny commented idly. He had no doubt that Remus already knew he was there, so there was no point in continuing to hide.

Phantom appeared halfway through the wall above him. A wide grin split his face. "I'm not complaining."

Remus finally got his laughter under control. "I have to admit, neither am I." He snickered. "I think we developed that spell just for Severus."

Danny grinned. "Is that why it was so… appropriate?"

Remus snickered again. "Yes, that's probably part of it." He glanced at Danny, then up at Phantom, who had come out of the wall. "I should probably punish you for pranking two professors, but I'll let you get away with it this time."

Danny started backing toward the wall. "Thanks, Professor. I hope you still feel that way in a few minutes."

Remus gave him a strange look. "What do you mean?"

Danny laughed a bit and glanced up at Phantom. Phantom grabbed him by the shoulders and turned them both invisible. Danny's disembodied voice answered Remus's question just before Remus sensed they were both gone. "Cause that spell lasts for 48 hours."

_(break)_

My brother is evil, sometimes. There's no other way to put it. I'm so proud! Anyway, he thought up the idea for that last scene. Of course, I was the one who decided to make it last 48 hours…

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AN: I think I have to apologize. Sort of. A few people have reviewed wondering if this story has a plot. My first thought was "Of course it has a plot! It's right…" Well, let's just say I fumbled, and there are several scenes that should have already been up. Yeah. So, slightly longer chapter than usual and plenty of pranking. Because pranking is good.

By the way, this chapter was ready since Friday. Amazing what lack of Internet can do for your creativity. Of course, since we didn't get Internet back until today, I couldn't post it before. Eh, what can you do?


	19. Interlude

Disclaimer: You're expecting something witty here, aren't you? Well, too bad.

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Interlude

As soon as he was out of sight of that miserable werewolf—not out of hearing, unfortunately, he could still hear him laughing—Snape reached up and snatched the clown nose off his face. It didn't work.

If he'd been anyone else, Snape might have paused in the middle of the corridor to try to figure out how exactly he still had a clown nose attached to his own. He could feel it; it was as real as the one in his hand and exactly the same, as far as he could tell. With a heartfelt snarl, Snape took the quickest way down to his quarters he knew of.

_(break)_

Remus snorted, staring at the wall Danny and Phantom had sunk through. "I'd forgotten that," he muttered ruefully. With a shake of the head, he headed off to his quarters. Since he'd been one of the ones to help create the prank in the first place, he knew exactly what he could expect over the next two days. 'Too bad we never got to use this one during school. But I think it's even better, now.'

Whistling, Remus ignored the slap of his long clown shoes slapping the ground as he walked. He even nodded a hello to the students and the occasional teacher he passed in the hall. Though if he'd known that particular third year was terrified of clowns, he might have avoided him…

_(break)_

Poppy Pomfrey found a Ravenclaw third year in the bed farthest from the door in the Infirmary. He had his legs drawn up with his face buried in his knees and she could hear him saying something. It wasn't until she got within a few feet of him that she heard it. Not that she understood…

"…sleep, clowns will eat me. Can't sleep, clowns will eat me. Can't sleep…" (1)

_(break)_

As soon as he was across the threshold of his own rooms with the door closed, Snape tore off the clown suit and threw it across the room. Unlike with the nose, which he'd tried to remove nine times already, a new one did not immediately appear. In fact, the clown suit reverted to his robe the moment he wasn't touching it anymore. Curious, he walked over and picked it up, but it was once more a clown suit.

Disgusted, he threw it down and went to try to wash the make-up—he was assuming, since there had been make-up on Lupin's face, it would be on his own. Upon seeing the huge, frown on his face, he began doing everything he could think of to get rid of it. He threw three more clown noses aside when he accidentally knocked them off.

_(break)_

Remus calmly returned to his quarters, made sure all of his grading was done for the weekend, and sat down to read a book. He made a note to remember to cast something on his pillows, so his clown make-up wouldn't ruin them. The house-elves would probably love the extra work, but since Snape would probably forget to do something similar it wasn't like he'd be depriving them of anything.

_(break)_

Snape had a collection of bright red clown noses, since whenever he removed one a new one was already on his nose. In a fit of frustration, he threw one in the fire, but the foul smoke had him staggering back and using a spell he often used on certain potions to get rid of the smoke.

He'd already ruined three towels trying to get rid of the make-up, and in a fit of frustration he just went to bed. True to Remus's prediction, he forgot to do something to protect the pillowcases.

_(break)_

Remus noted that it was time to go to bed. He sighed regretfully, but put a bookmark in his book and went to change. He wasn't surprised to find his pajamas turning into a replica of the clown suit, though he did note that it was now a bit looser, perfect for sleeping in. "Didn't know it would do that," he said thoughtfully.

_(break)_

When Snape woke up, he frowned when he saw the thick white stuff on his pillow. It wasn't until he looked around and saw several clown noses, which he must have knocked off in his sleep, that he remembered the prank. With a snarl he got up to prepare for his classes.

_(break)_

Remus sat at the Head table, eating breakfast as normal and ignoring the many people staring at him. Snape wasn't there. Neither was a certain third year.

_(break)_

After breakfast, the sixth year Gryffindors and Slytherins trooped off to the dungeons for Potions. They arrived and found their usual seats, quietly set up and waited for their grumpy professor.

From the shadows, Snape spoke. "If I hear even a whisper of laughter, the first offender will be assigned a week of detention and have 100 points taken from their house. Anyone after that will get worse."

Danny had to exercise every bit of his control to keep from laughing when Snape stepped out of the shadows and began barking instructions. Every part of the prank was still there, even his bright pink, curly afro—which somehow managed to look hideously greasy even when it was sticking out in all directions.

Without him realizing it, Danny's eyes began to glow blue as he unconsciously tapped his ice powers to 'freeze' his emotions. (2)

_(break)_

In his own class, Remus was lecturing. "Many people don't seem to understand the value of pranks. In many ways, it's better than combat for teaching awareness. For one thing, humiliation is often much more of a reason for someone to learn than debilitating injuries."

He looked around. "Miss Weasley, what are some of the things you've learned, growing up with your brothers?"

Ginny blinked. "Always know where the twins are, never eat or drink anything they offer you or that they may have done something to, and check your food, drink, and wherever you sit or sleep to make sure they haven't booby trapped it," she answered promptly.

Remus nodded. "Very good. Ten points to Gryffindor." He turned to the rest of the class. "Now, this won't surprise some of you, but that is exactly how many high-end Aurors stay alive."

_(break)_

At the end of class, Remus grinned. "I want everyone to write a foot on the value of pranks in combat, and how learning to avoid them can help you in real-life situations." His grin turned evil. "Anyone who wishes to claim responsibility for the prank done on me is exempt from the essay."

There was an immediate uproar as they thought of not having to do the homework, but he waited until they were quiet to continue. "Those of you who wish to do so should know that the same prank was pulled on Professor Snape. And I will give him the names of anyone who wishes to volunteer for the responsibility." There was an immediate hush and everyone there vowed that they would be doing the essay.

_(break)_

After Potions, everyone—Gryffindor _and_ Slytherin—were making double time on their way to lunch. One of the Slytherins had made the mistake of not hiding his amusement well enough, and Snape had come down on him like a ton of bricks. Obviously, not even his own house was exempt from his ire.

_(break)_

Madame Pomfrey managed, by dosing him with Dreamless Sleep potion so he'd sleep and putting some Calming Draught in his lunch, to get the clown-phobic Ravenclaw to go to class after lunch. Unfortunately for him, the first class he went to was Potions.

Snape made the same speech he had with his first class and then came out barking orders. He was understandably shocked when one of his students ran screaming out of the room.

_(break)_

Most classes continued similarly for both Potions and DADA for the rest of the day, though no other students ran screaming from their classes.

(A certain Ravenclaw third year refused to leave his dorm until he was sure there were no more clowns. It should be no surprise that, even before the clown prank, his boggart involved being sent to the Headmaster's office.)

Snape managed to eat both his breakfast and lunch in his own rooms, but Dumbledore refused to let him hide out for dinner, so he was a glowering presence in the Great Hall. As a consequence, many students refused to even glance toward their teachers for fear they'd start laughing too hard to eat.

Danny kept his head down, and refused to look at anyone, since he'd caught his reflection in the silverware and realized his eyes were glowing blue. It wasn't very noticeable, but he really didn't want to try to ask questions about how he was doing it. Thankfully, Snape had already given him a note that said tutoring was canceled that night, so he didn't have to worry about laughing in the man's face.

_(break)_

For his part, Snape was planning to try more ways to get rid of his current clown accessories. Unfortunately, none would be successful. Though he did get quite a bit of target practice with all the clown noses.

_(break)_

Tuesday followed a similar pattern, but the more observant students noticed that Remus's hair wasn't nearly as bright as it had been. Carefully, they noted that Snape's was also much darker than before. That night at dinner, nearly everyone had been alerted to the fact that the prank may be fading, so they managed to catch most of it.

_(break)_

Snape glowered at all the students. If he ever found out who pranked him, he'd make sure their _grandchildren_ regretted it. Suddenly his hair, which had been sticking out in all directions no matter what he did, abruptly flopped down around his face. He blinked, but just blew it out of his face. He looked down and saw that the clown suit had changed until it was just like his regular robes, though the colors stayed the same for a few minutes longer.

Tilting a clean knife, Snape watched as the make-up faded until he was left looking at his own face. With a growl, he saw that the clown nose was still stuck to his own and snatched it off. For the first time in 48 hours, it wasn't replaced.

_(break)_

A few seats down, Remus snickered. Watching Snape's bright pink afro gradually darken to black had been amusing, but his own hair, which was of similar length, had been much softer coming down. 'Maybe he used whatever hair oil he has to try to calm the afro.' Calmly, he plucked his own clown nose off and tucked it into his pocket.

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(1) Anyone here familiar with Stephen King's It?

(2) Ranma ½ has something called the Soul of Ice which is similar in principle.

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AN: Yes, I know it's short, but it's not technically a chapter, either. It's just a quick overview of some of what those two days might have been like. Would you believe that, until my brother suggested something, I didn't actually have anything for the aftermath of the clown prank?

Don't worry, next chapter will come soon.


	20. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: The world's gone nineteen. Aaaaaaaahhhhh!

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Chapter 19

Danny didn't actually start learning the basics of the animagus transformation on his first night of detention. After McGonagall had finished telling him about the different stages and dangers of learning, she noticed the time and sent him off to bed. "Think about what I said, Mr. Fenton. I truly hope you will have the potential for this branch of magic."

The next night, when Danny walked in Professor McGonagall wasn't alone. There was a seventh year redhead who he recognized as the girl whose cat liked to perch on his shoulders while he was doing homework. Caught by surprise, he paused. "Professor?"

McGonagall looked up and waved him in. "Mr. Fenton, this is Katy Greene. Miss Greene, Danny Fenton. I was hoping you'd be willing to lend him some of your books on the animagus transformation."

Greene tilted her head, studying him. After a moment, she leaned forward slightly, and her face flattened, becoming more feline, as she sniffed the air. Danny gave her a strange look that she ignored. Her face went back to normal before she spoke. "You can use my books on two conditions. One, I want them returned in good condition." Danny nodded, that made sense to him. "Two, are you going into town next Hogsmeade weekend?"

Danny _stared_ at her, and behind them McGonagall snickered. After a moment, Greene seemed to realize what that had sounded like, and blushed furiously. "_Not_ what I meant. No offense, but I'm not one of the school princesses that fall for every pretty face."

Danny smiled slightly. "None taken. And yeah, I'm going, but why do you ask?"

Greene frowned. "Ask your friends if they remember a Hufflepuff beater named Josh Greene." She glanced over at McGonagall. "Did you need me for anything else, Professor?"

McGonagall's eyebrows had shot up at Greene's suggestion, but she quickly got over her shock. "No, you can go, Miss Greene."

Greene nodded and walked out, closing the door behind her. Danny looked between the door Greene had disappeared through and McGonagall. "Professor?"

McGonagall shook her head. "Mr. Greene is Miss Greene's brother. I'm not clear on the details, but Mr. Greene once gave Miss Granger something that later saved her life." (1)

Danny frowned, remembering the way her face had changed. "She's an animagus?"

McGonagall nodded. "Yes, Miss Greene is a jaguar animagus. Her brother is a gorilla. Certain magical talents tend to run in families," she added at his surprised look. "Now. First, we are going to find out if you have the potential for the animagus transformation. If you do, and I think you do, I'll start teaching you tonight."

Danny nodded. "How will we find out?" he asked.

McGonagall held out a certain potion bottle. "I asked Severus what he did with your Animagus Revealus potion." She smiled, a bit mischievously. "He asked me not to tell you that it's almost as good as if he'd made it himself."

Danny grinned and took the bottle. "So if I drink this and see an animal, I have the potential, but if I don't see anything I don't?"

McGonagall nodded. "Yes, exactly."

Danny shrugged. "Bottoms up." He downed the potion, trying not to taste it too much, and made a face. "Is it better or worse when you know exactly what went into it?" he asked.

McGonagall laughed, but didn't answer. Danny closed his eyes, and saw it almost immediately. His animal form was staring at him with intelligent blue eyes set over a narrow muzzle. It was a small animal covered in smooth black fur, with large, pointed ears and a bushy tail, both tipped with white. (2)

After a long moment, Danny opened his eyes. "Whoa."

McGonagall smiled. "Well? What animal did you see?" Danny told her, and she blinked, considering. "Hmm. Appropriate, though it wouldn't have been my first guess." She shrugged. "Did you see it as soon as you closed your eyes?" Danny nodded. "Good. That means it should be easier for you than for some students."

Danny blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Well, for many students it takes a few minutes of waiting before they see their animal form. Seeing it almost immediately means that your animal self is closer to the surface, and perhaps more willing to be found."

McGonagall gracefully knelt in the middle of the floor, and motioned him down in front of her. "Now that we know that you do have the potential, the next step is to learn to meditate, and try to 'teach' your body the form.

"Now, as soon as you manage this, you _will_ be registering, since I will not have one of my students running around as an illegal Animagus."

Danny nodded agreement, and she smiled. Danny had become one of her favorite students in the short time she'd known him. After all, someone had to remind Albus that he wasn't a god, and he didn't listen to _her_.

"Alright. You know what your form is, which is the first step. It's a good thing you have some skill in Potions, or you would have had to do it the hard way." McGonagall smiled slightly. "Now, you must meditate. Close your eyes. Let the world around you fall away. It's not important. Nothing is important. Relax."

Danny followed her instructions, and before long her voice seemed faint and far away. Another time, it might have worried him, but now he couldn't bring himself to care.

"Danny? Are you still there?"

From what seemed a million miles away, he heard himself speak. "Yes."

"Good. I want you to concentrate on your animal form. See it, from every angle. You will eventually become it, but first you must know it. Do you see it?"

"Yes."

"Concentrate. The easiest place to start is with the fur. Feel it, see it, and know it." There was a short pause. "Are you ready?"

"Ready?"

"Imagine the fur on yourself. Feel it grow, and spread over your body. It's your fur, you know it."

Faint as a star in daylight, he felt a distant, pervasive itch. It eventually pulled him out of the distant peace he had been enjoying. After what felt like both an eternity and an instant, Danny blinked, and found himself staring McGonagall straight in the eye. He frowned, confused. _I'm not kneeling anymore, so how…_ Danny glanced down. A moment later, he landed flat on his back with a loud thump, having dropped nearly a foot.

McGonagall snickered. "I have to say, Mr. Fenton, I don't see floating very often."

Danny blinked, staring at the ceiling. "What?"

He could hear her moving and a moment later, she was offering him a hand up, which he accepted. "Magic can have some strange effects, and meditation gives it a slightly looser rein, especially when you are trying to learn the animagus transformation.

"Occasionally a student with an avian or, more rarely, an aquatic form will start to float, as their animal's instincts are saying that they don't belong on the ground." She raised an eyebrow, looking at him curiously. "It doesn't usually happen to someone whose animagus form is a ground animal."

Danny grimaced. He'd bet even odds that it wasn't his _animal_ instincts that said he didn't belong on the ground. "I bet Harry would float."

McGonagall nodded with an amused look on her face. "Yes, I wouldn't be surprise if he could be an avian animagus. Or perhaps a canine."

"I'd bet wolf, if he wasn't a bird," Danny answered absently. He had just realized where the itching that had brought him out of mediation had come from. He was covered head to toe in black fur, which was a strange feeling under his clothes.

McGonagall looked him over. Danny had a thick layer of fur over his face and arms, and she assumed it was probably elsewhere as well. "Very good. Now you have to do the same thing in reverse."

Danny sighed but obediently dropped into a lotus position. McGonagall spoke softly, so her voice wouldn't disturb him. "You've already done this, so this part is easy. Just relax, let the world fall away. Just let it all go."

Before long, Danny was once more breathing in the slow, easy rhythm he'd established before. She also noticed that he was floating about six inches off the floor. "Are you ready, Danny?"

Softly, Danny spoke. "Yes."

McGonagall smiled. He was very good at this. "Remember. You're supposed to have skin, not fur. It's time to let the fur go, to have only skin again." Danny frowned slightly, and the visible fur began to thin. "That's right. For now you want skin. You can have fur again later." A few more minutes of coaching and she called him back.

Danny blinked, not as startled this time when he realized he was still floating. Not wanting to bruise his tailbone again, he gently lowered himself to the ground once more. Finally, he shook his head. "Wow."

McGonagall grinned. "Yes. Now, I want you to practice doing that on your own. Don't try for anything other than fur unless I am supervising and have already given you permission. If I find out you disobeyed my instructions, your detentions will be monitored by Argus Filch.

Danny winced, and nodded agreement. He tried to stand up, and abruptly found himself on the ground again. "Whoa. Head rush."

McGonagall smiled. "You are trying to force your magic to act in an unfamiliar way. Until you get the hang of it, it will tire you out." She wrote out a quick note. "Now, go straight back to your common room, it's late."

Danny recognized the dismissal, and smiled. "All right. Thank you, Professor." He was gone before she could ask him what he meant.

_(break)_

Danny settled himself on a windowsill some ways from the fire. The spot he chose was in shadow, so few even realized he was there. 'I am _so_ glad Professor McGonagall doesn't assign homework for this animagus thing. I'd never have any free time if she did.'

Danny looked up and saw Harry and Ron creep down the stairs from the boy's dormitory. He frowned, wondering what was going on, but before he could say anything Hermione came down from the girl's dormitory. The three of them looked around quickly before slipping out into the hallway.

On a whim, Danny got up and silently followed them. A quick, near-silent _'tempus'_ told him that it was almost midnight. Knowing this, he knew the trio wouldn't want to be caught. He followed them, sticking to shadows and staying quiet. 'Who knew it would actually be Skulker who taught me how to stalk someone? Even if he didn't realize it.'

Before too much longer, the three met up with Professor Lupin. Danny paused where he was for a long moment before he realized they were coming back his way. Thinking quickly, he ducked into the nearest room and moved away from the door. By some fluke, the small group decided to come into the very room he was hiding in.

Danny rolled his eyes and moved to the farthest corner from the door. A moment later, there was a soft '_lumos_'.

Remus sighed as he looked at the trio. "Are you going to tell me why you needed to talk to me?"

Harry sighed and threw up a silencing charm over the room so nobody would be able to eavesdrop on them. "What's been going on lately? Nobody is telling us anything, and as far as the papers think, Voldemort is still as dead as a doornail."

Remus smiled slightly. "So you wanted to know what was going on, but couldn't find any way to ask me while anyone else was around, is that it?" They simply nodded. "Well, believe it or not, there really _hasn't_ been much going on."

Harry frowned. "What do you mean?"

Remus just shook his head. "I don't know why, but the Death Eaters haven't gone on very many raids, just enough that we don't forget they're there. Voldemort is probably planning something, but I don't know what. As for no one telling you anything, well…"

Hermione frowned slightly. "What is it? Do you know why?"

Remus sighed. "There are some within the Order who consider you three too young to be involved in Order business."

Ron snorted. "Mum's one of them, isn't she?" Remus simply nodded in agreement.

Harry scowled angrily. "So we're old enough to face Voldemort, but we're not old enough to know anything that'd help?"

Danny snorted softly from his corner, unable to resist comment. "Idiots," he murmured quietly. Almost instantly, Remus spun to face his corner, wand at the ready.

Remus glared angrily as he realized whoever was there must have been there the whole time. "Who's there?" He noted proudly that Harry and his friends hadn't wasted time on questions, simply holding their wands ready at the corner.

Danny glared angrily back, barely keeping his eyes from glowing green as he silently yelled at himself. 'Idiot, idiot, idiot! You _know_ he has better senses than most people; he's managed to notice _you_ when you walk in to a room and his back is turned!'

The four of them held their wands at the ready as a familiar figure stepped out of the shadows. Harry blinked. "Danny? What are you doing here?" He still had his wand out, just in case, but he did relax slightly.

Danny sighed softly as he watched them relax when they realized it was him. "Actually, I followed you. I saw you sneaking out, and I got curious." He shrugged sheepishly. "I didn't mean to listen on anything private, but you didn't give me much choice."

Remus sighed as he put his wand away. "So how much did you hear?"

Danny sighed. "I hid in here before you came in, so pretty much everything." He frowned slightly when he looked at the trio. "You've faced this Voldemort guy, and nobody is giving you any information about him?"

Harry grumbled as he, too, put his wand away and Ron and Hermione followed his example. "Yeah, pretty much."

Danny snorted again. "Like I said, they're idiots. It's not like you're children anymore." He started to go to the door, figuring they wouldn't want him intruding any more than he had.

Remus frowned in confusion. "Wait a minute, what do you mean by that?"

Danny blinked as he turned back towards them. "You mean the 'not children anymore' thing?" The four looked at each other before nodding in agreement. "That's easy."

He leaned against the doorjamb as he spoke. "There's a quote from a movie that really stuck with me. It went something like 'My daddy used to say childhood is over the moment you know you're going to die.'" (3) He turned and left before they could say anything.

As Danny slipped into the shadows out in the hall, he silently snorted to himself. 'Stuck with me. Right. Mostly because I nearly died when I was fourteen years old. Heck, nearly? I half _did_!'

Harry frowned and walked over to look out into the hall, but even though it had only been a few seconds, he couldn't seem to find Danny anywhere. "Weird. How does he do that?"

Remus asked him "Do what?" at the same time Hermione said, "Again?" Remus frowned and repeated his question. "What does he do?"

Ron shook his head. "It's really weird. One minute he's walking next to you or whatever, and then you realize he hasn't said anything and look, and he's gone. Kinda like how Snape comes into class without being noticed."

Remus frowned. "Huh. I've never noticed that. But then, I really don't see him much except during class and lessons."

Hermione snorted in amusement. "Did you see what happened Tuesday at lunch?"

Remus shook his head, wondering where this was going. "No, all I saw was Draco Malfoy looking spooked."

Ron snorted softly. "Blimey, that was funny. Almost as good as the bouncing ferret thing."

Hermione glared at him for a moment, but couldn't hold it as a grin crossed her face. "Well, we were watching for Danny, so we saw it. Malfoy was going on about something or other when he came in, when suddenly Danny seems to appear right behind him and said something. Malfoy jumped almost three feet, but Danny was already by the table before he could do anything."

Remus smirked. "Did you find out what he was 'going on about'? And what Danny said to spook him so much?"

Ron grinned. "Yeah, Danny said Malfoy was saying Danny was so good in Potions, but he would probably flop in a duel. Danny came up behind him and said something like 'Do you really want to find out?'"

Danny smiled from where he watched a few feet away. 'I'm glad they enjoyed that. It _was_ really funny to scare the arrogant idiot like that.' He turned away and calmly slipped through the shadows back toward Gryffindor Tower. He didn't want to be caught anymore than the other three had before they met up with Lupin. Unfortunately, before he got very far a certain annoyance popped through the wall in front of him.

Peeves looked around. He had sensed someone nearby, and hoped it was a student he could get in trouble. Considering he didn't see any adults, he was probably right. "Ickle students? Ickle students, out of bed!"

Danny sighed softly. He hadn't really wanted to deal with Peeves, but he supposed it was necessary. "Peeves." He felt his eyes beginning to glow in his annoyance. "Do you really want to deal with me right now?"

Peeves froze, recognizing the voice. When he turned toward the source, he saw bright green eyes glowing in the darkness. With an extremely loud, high-pitched scream of terror, he zoomed out of there and through a wall.

Danny winced and clapped his hands over his ears, cursing his sensitive hearing yet again. "Jeez, he could have broken glass with that!" Even through the ringing in his ears, he heard footsteps and quickly suppressed the glow in his eyes.

The trio and Remus started back to Gryffindor Tower not long after Danny left and heard Peeves screaming. Glancing at each other, they hurried to the source, and found Danny leaning against a wall, muttering to himself. Harry thought he saw a small, greenish glow, but when he blinked it was gone.

Remus frowned slightly as he reached one of his more confusing students. "Are you alright? What was that all about?"

Danny winced, and rubbed his ears. "Eh, I'm fine. And that," he waved a hand as if to indicate the scream, "was Peeves when he realized who I was. Gah."

Remus frowned. "Peeves screamed because he ran into you?" He started leading the way toward Gryffindor Tower, the others walking along with him. If they were with a teacher, they wouldn't be punished for being out after curfew.

Danny nodded as he walked beside Remus, slowly lowering his hands as his ears finally stopped ringing. "Yeah, the ghosts are kind of scared of me. Peeves tends towards the 'scream and fly' approach, Sir Nicholas is mostly all right as long as I don't make any sudden moves, and I really haven't met many of the others."

Remus gave him a weird look. "All the ghosts you've met are scared around you? Why?"

Before Danny could answer, a blue skinned man dressed a bit like a plumber came through the wall. "I am the Box Ghost! Beware!"

Danny frowned. "Do you have a life besides following me around? Do you _like_ being stuffed into the thermos?"

The Box Ghost stared at him for a long moment. "You can not hold me in your cylindrical container! I will defeat you with my cardboard squares of Doom! Beware!"

Danny sighed and began searching through his pockets. "I know I put one in here, now where is it?" Finally he found what he was looking for and pulled out a metallic thermos. "Here it is!" He calmly pointed it at the Box Ghost, who was still talking. He was sucked inside with one more "Beware!"

Danny studied the thing for a moment. "Isn't this the one with Klemper in it?" He put it to his ear and listened for a moment. It didn't take long for his suspicions to be confirmed, and he put it in his pocket with a snicker. Danny glanced at the other four, who were watching him with slightly wide eyes. "What? Box Ghost is too easy."

Remus smiled slightly and shook his head. "Well, that answers that question." It didn't take them long to reach the Fat Lady's portrait, and the four teenagers went inside. He calmly turned to go back to his rooms.

_(break)_

Inside the tower, Danny calmly slipped away before any of the trio could ask questions and went up to the sixth year dorms to sleep. 'Great. My luck, they'll ask even more questions than usual. That's not something I want to deal with.'

Danny quickly changed into some sleep pants and crawled into bed. 'This is going to be a long year, especially trying not to let anyone find out my secret. At least I can still e-mail and talk to Sam and Tucker. I'd probably go nuts without them.'

Tired as he was, it didn't take Danny long to fall asleep, though it wasn't as restful as it could have been. With the way his thoughts were going, his mind went back to his encounter with Dan Phantom, and all the ways it could have gone wrong. He dreamed of the possibilities if Clockwork hadn't decided to save his family, and remembered the crazed look in Future-Vlad's eyes as he threatened to kill him to keep that future from happening.

As bad as his dreams were, physically Danny showed very little of the turmoil. His face twitched and he curled into a ball, but nothing else indicated the direction of his dreams. He was the first one to get up in the morning, unable to stand the thought of returning to his dreams.

_(break)_

Part of a story that may or may not ever get posted.

I wonder how many reviewers will guess what Danny's form is now.

Movie is The Crow. Very good movie if you like the type, which I do.

_(break)_

AN: Wah-hoo. I got sucked in. Sucked in _deep_. I randomly decided to start reading the Dark Tower series by Stephen King a week or so ago. I've finished the first five books. Check them out if you don't understand the importance of that. Now, though, I tore myself away so I could make adjustments and post this chapter.

Must…read…sixth…book.


	21. Chapter 20

Disclaimer: I do not own Black Ca—wait, that's not right. I don't own Harry Potter or Danny Phantom. There.

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Chapter 20

Voldemort growled softly as the last of the Death Eaters that he'd sent through his forced portal into the Ghost Zone were thrown back in pieces. All three had terrified looks on what was left of their faces. Snarling, he turned to his nearest servant. "Find out what did this."

He stalked off to his rooms, where he had several books of spells that could affect ghosts. He thought there might have been a pain curse similar to the Cruciatis that could be used on ghosts. Then he paused. 'On second thought…'

_(break)_

Sitting on his bed in the otherwise empty dorm, Danny snickered. "In charms, Ron managed to get Hermione stuck to the ceiling for nearly an hour. Professor Flitwick kept trying to figure out what he had done, and when he finally managed to undo it, she landed right on top of Ron."

Sam and Tucker were laughing at that. "Sounds familiar, doesn't it?" Sam asked.

Tucker nodded agreement. "Yeah really, did he break his leg, too?"

Danny grinned and shook his head. "Nah, he's fine. Well, he's probably got a few bruises by now."

Sam gave him a strange look. "Why would he have bruises?"

Danny's grin widened. "He made the mistake of telling Hermione that he couldn't breathe until she got off." The other two started laughing, seeing what he meant. "She keeps hitting him whenever he mentions it."

Tucker managed to get his laughter under control as he said, "Man, Danny. Sounds like you're having a lot of fun."

Danny smiled. "Yeah, it's great. Of course, it kind of stinks not being able to talk about certain things with anybody here, but ya can't have everything. You'd probably hate it here, though."

Tucker frowned. "Why would I hate it there? It sounds really cool!"

Danny rolled his eyes. "Two words, Tuck. No. Technology."

Sam blinked as Tucker froze, staring in shock. "If there's no technology, how are you talking to us now?"

Danny shrugged. "Well, mom and dad talked to Snape about it, and he said something about nothing that runs on electricity working at Hogwarts. They got the idea to adapt a computer to run off ectoplasm, and it works great. Of course, it's kind of awkward recha—"

Danny was cut off as Tucker let out a loud shriek of pure anguish at the thought of being without his precious technology. Danny clapped his hands over his ears and fell backward off the bed, his ears ringing. Sam winced back, but managed to turn the volume on her computer down nearly all the way.

_(break)_

Downstairs, the Gryffindors in the Common Room snapped their heads around to stare at the stairs as they heard the screaming, wondering who was being murdered. A couple of Seventh Years dashed toward the fireplace to call McGonagall while Harry, Ron, and Hermione charged up the stairs to the boy's dorm, wands drawn and ready.

Just as the door burst open, Tucker stopped screaming, panting as he was still caught up in the horror that Danny's words had caused. 'No technology? How can they _live_?'

Harry was in the lead, and his green eyes swept the room as Hermione and Ron shifted to cover his back. After a long moment, he blinked as he realized the room was the same as always: slightly messy, but no big deal. There were no signs of violence, and there didn't seem to be anyone there.

Hermione frowned as she realized the same things as Harry, but Ron spoke before she could. "What happened? There's nothing here, so who was screaming?"

Danny groaned as he hauled himself up the side of his bed. He blinked when he saw the three of them, and realized they had probably come to find out who was being murdered. "Oh, hi guys. Sorry about the noise." He reached up and rubbed his ears.

Hermione frowned. "Danny? Are you alright? And what was that ghastly noise?"

Sam, who had seen that Tucker had stopped screaming, had turned the volume back up on her computer in time to hear the question. "Oh, that was just Tucker. Danny mentioned his worst nightmare."

Harry frowned and exchanged glances with the other two as they came closer and stood where they could see the screen. "Worst nightmare? What do you mean?"

Hermione frowned as she took a closer look at the black and green laptop. "How is there a computer in Hogwarts? Technology doesn't work here."

Danny, who had managed to focus on the questions, speared a glance at the screen of his laptop. "Tuck, don't you dare. My ears are still ringing. Go cuddle with your PDA, you'll feel better."

Sam frowned as she saw Danny's face. "Danny, are you alright? You look a little strange."

Danny blinked at Sam's image, and realized what she meant. "Oh, it's nothing. Like I said, my ears are ringing. Remind me to never mention this around Tucker again."

Hermione frowned. "Should we take you to Madame Pomfrey?"

Danny shook his head, smiling at her concern. "Nah, no need. I'll be fine in a minute.

Sam frowned. "Let me guess, Madame Pomfrey is the nurse?" She paused for a moment. "Tucker, go to a happy place."

Tucker shook his head. "Uh, how 'bout we talk later. Sorry, Danny." Danny simply waved at him in answer. A moment later, Tucker's image was gone.

Danny turned back to Sam and said, "Hey, Sam? I'll call you back later, 'kay?"

Sam smiled. "Okay, Danny. Talk to you later, and don't meet too many cute girls over there, okay?" She didn't wait for a reply, signing off. Danny smiled at her usual send-off and shut down his laptop.

While Danny was putting his laptop safely away in his trunk, McGonagall burst into the room, wand at the ready. After a quick sweep of the room yielded nothing of interest, she turned to Hermione. "Miss Granger, would you mind explaining why I was called for some strange screaming, only to find nothing wrong?"

Hermione smiled slightly. "Well, we came up to find out what was going on, and we found out Danny was talking to his friends."

McGonagall frowned and turned to Danny, who was watching her carefully. "Mr. Fenton, would you mind explaining?"

Danny winced. "Sorry Professor, but the screaming thing was my fault. I didn't think and mentioned one of Tuck's worst nightmares." He smiled slightly. "Tucker hates being without his precious tech, and when I told him that it doesn't work at Hogwarts, he went nuts."

McGonagall frowned. "Why would your friend not know about that? And where is he, anyway?" She looked around the slightly messy room.

Danny shrugged. "By now, he is no doubt on his computer, trying to banish the image of having to use a pencil and paper for everything." He paused for a moment. "It's probably a good thing I didn't tell him that wizards actually use quills and parchment, it might have been even worse."

When McGonagall just gave him a confused stare, Danny shrugged. "Dad set something up so I could talk to people at home without having to send letters."

_(break)_

Voldemort looked down in amusement at his spy in Hogwarts. "Severus. I wonder; if I had known to summon you last week, would you have come?"

Snape tensed. "Of course, my lord." He grimaced and was privately thankful it hadn't happened.

Voldemort smirked. "Very good, my spy. Tell me, has your _new_ _student_ had contact with the being you mentioned to me at the beginning of the year? This 'Clockwork'?"

Snape grimaced. "Not to my knowledge, my lord. But from what I remember of that short encounter, the strange ghosts that visit Hogwarts are in many ways similar."

Voldemort smirked and leaned back on his throne. "Yes, I had thought they might be."

_(break)_

Looking into his globe, Clockwork sighed. "I'm sorry, Danny. This was the only way."

_(break)_

"I don't normally move on so quickly, but you seem to have managed fur quite easily by now," McGonagall commented with a raised eyebrow.

Danny blushed and the fur that had covered him receded into his skin.

McGonagall smiled. "Of course, these are special circumstances. Most of my students don't have one-on-one training in achieving their animagus form."

Danny grinned. "Yeah. And I wanted to be able to do it without the meditation thing, anyway." He blushed. "Getting startled out of a trance while floating a foot above my bed when Ron walked in was embarrassing." He decided to leave out that it was also _painful_, since he'd ended up falling off the bed headfirst.

McGonagall smirked. "Yes. That has happened to many of my students, though as I told you before, most don't float." Her smirk deepened. "Think of it as incentive."

Danny very carefully kept a straight face as fur erupted all over his body, head to toe. He didn't notice it, but his finger and toenails hardened and sharpened slightly as well.

Now McGonagall smiled. "Yes, and when you can do that with all of it, you will be ready."

Danny nodded and once more banished the fur. "So what's next?"

"Since you learned this part relatively easily, we'll move on to something more difficult. Fur is a surface change. Now, we are going to work on your ears." She kneeled in the middle of the floor, and waited for him to join her before she continued. "First, you must remember that this is not merely a surface change. I will be very surprised if you start the change tonight. Do you have the books Miss Greene is letting you borrow?"

Danny nodded. "Yeah. She said something about one of them being customizable, but I haven't had a chance to ask her what she meant."

McGonagall nodded. "That is the one you want now." She waited until he found the right book and brought it out. The front cover was a plain dark blue with the words Anatomy of Your Animagus Form: Jaguar embossed in silver. "I see she forgot to tell you how to change it. It's not hard. Just think of your animagus form and tap the cover with your wand."

Danny did as he was told, and the title changed. Instead of Greene's animagus form, the animal was his own. Curious, he flipped it open and saw that the information inside had also changed.

McGonagall smiled. "Magic makes many things simpler. For example, I believe that that book originally belonged to Miss Greene's brother, who is a gorilla animagus."

Danny nodded absently. He hadn't taken long to find the section that dealt with ears. "Is this what you meant when you said that I had to understand my form?"

McGonagall nodded. "This is one of the lesser dangers of the animagus form. If you learn any part wrong, it is much harder to fix it. Fortunately, it's not hard to see when something goes wrong. A simple diagnostic charm shows exactly how you do it.

"One of my main assignments for those who are getting some part of their transformation wrong is to study both the results of the diagnostic charm and the way it is supposed to be. In many ways, this makes it easier for them to understand and correct the problem."

Danny nodded thoughtfully, still looking at the book. "This has how it should look when you're both mostly human and already changed."

McGonagall smiled. "Yes. There are differences, which is why achieving the full form is the next to last step in the change."

_(break)_

Voldemort smiled, staring out the window as he pet Nagini. "I shall have to invite him to come here. There are simply too many unanswered questions."

"Whatever you say. A little to the left."

Voldemort laughed softly as he followed Nagini's instructions.

_(break)_

Danny was down in Hogsmeade with Hermione, Harry, and Ron when Greene approached him. "Hey, Fenton, you got a minute?"

Danny looked up and saw the short redhead. "I guess so. What do you need?"

Greene rolled her eyes. "Second condition. Come on, my brother's working." She started off, and Danny followed her with a shrug.

The trio shared a glance and followed. Hermione was the first to speak. "Danny, what was she talking about?"

Danny shrugged. "McGonagall wanted me to borrow Greene's books. One of her conditions was that I meet her brother."

Harry blinked. "What was the other?"

"Return them in good condition."

They nodded in comprehension, and soon found themselves outside Honeydukes. There was a large man with an easel, obviously painting something. Greene shook her head. "Hey, Josh!"

The man glanced up, and nodded. "Hey, Katy. What's up?"

Greene rolled her eyes. "This is my brother, Josh. Josh, this is Danny Fenton, and I'm sure you remember Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, and Harry Potter."

Josh nodded at each of them in turn. Then he looked at Danny again, and a distant look entered his eyes. Without a word, he reached down, picked up a sketchbook, and began to draw.

Greene's eyebrows shot up. "Already?" She shook her head and began to explain. "Josh has some divination abilities, but for whatever reason they only manifest in his drawings." She jerked a thumb at him. "Whenever he meets someone, he gets the urge to draw that he can't resist. Usually doesn't happen this quickly, though."

The trio and Danny stood awkwardly, wondering if they should leave, while Greene just leaned against the wall and hummed softly. Finally, Ron asked. "What are you humming?"

"Hmm?" Greene blinked, obviously caught by surprise. "Oh." She blushed slightly. "It's the first part of the song 'Iron Man.'"

Before they could ask more, Josh Greene stopped drawing and set down his pencil. "Huh. It isn't usually so strong." He shook himself and tore the page out without ceremony and handed it over to Danny. "There you go. I'm not sure if it's a past or future thing, that's for you to figure out."

Confused, Danny looked down at the picture, and sucked in a shocked breath. It was a picture of him, standing in the middle of a familiar stone room. There were gears, bells, and even part of Clockwork's viewing globe at the edge. The Danny in the picture had his eyes half closed and wand in hand. Obviously doing some kind of spell.

The weirdest part was that the picture was moving. Gears turned, bells swung, and even the globe at the corner had a suggestion of movement in it. Danny also thought he saw something on the other side, but he couldn't tell what it was.

Greene grinned. "Yeah, the moving thing always hits people hardest."

Josh blushed as he admitted, "One of my first magical accidents was making stick figures dance."

Danny barely heard them. He could tell already that it was definitely a future event, if it happened at all. Something told him it was important, but he had no idea why or how.

_(break)_

Danny was wandering the halls on Sunday. He needed a break, to get away from everyone, so he'd decided to spend his time as a human and explore the castle.

His senses were on low alert—he could sense when someone was coming toward him, but except for his fan girls, he did nothing. Whenever one of his fan girls came near, he'd sink into the shadows and watch as she continued on to wherever she happened to be going. A few seemed to be looking for him, and they were the ones that made him decide to hide.

When Danny heard someone come up behind him, he thought nothing of it except for the fact that it wasn't a fan girl. When he or she threw something, he turned sharply away, startled. But it wasn't until the thing shattered on the stone floor that he realized that it wasn't meant to hit him.

Coughing, Danny staggered away from the gaseous potion, mindlessly focused on getting back to the more populated areas of the castle. The person who had thrown the potions bottle hurried after, not caring about the gas. Danny glanced back and saw that none of it seemed to be getting close to the figure's head.

The figure threw something else, and this time Danny didn't regret his instinctive dodge, though it was more of a lurch than a lunge. The magic he sensed in the small object felt a bit like the magic used to apparate, meaning he probably would have been transported somewhere if it had hit him.

Danny managed to get away from the figure, though it was hard to focus well enough to turn invisible. Staggering on, the only other thing he could focus on was getting to help. A familiar and welcome magic signature was close by, and that was all he cared about.

Danny finally dropped the invisibility a few minutes later, and staggered out of a hall very near his target.

_(break)_

Harry looked up when he saw a sound, and saw Danny Fenton sliding down a wall, seemingly unconscious. He went over to check his pulse and found it reassuringly strong, though slow. A quick diagnosis charm that Madame Pomfrey had taught him—she'd decided that if he was going to be in the Hospital Wing so much, he might as well learn something—made him sigh with relief. "I think he's just unconscious. Maybe drugged."

He motioned to Ron and Hermione, who had pulled out their own wands so they could cover his back. "Come on guys, we should get him to the Hospital Wing."

They moved to help him. "You said he's probably drugged, but who would want to drug him?" Hermione wondered. She whispered a soft _mobilicorpus_.

Ron shook his head. "Could be anyone, Mione. He hasn't exactly made too many friends, considering his fan club."

Hermione nodded, but somehow she thought there might be more to it than that.

_(break)_

AN: Okay, you can thank my brother, again. I'd half forgotten about this chapter, but it was mostly done already, just needed a bit of touch-up to be presentable. Next step: Try to get onto the internet. Stupid updates.

Two days later, when I finally remember to upload the chapter...


	22. Chapter 21

Disclaimer: I'm not dead! And as tempting as it probably is… *cringe* you can't kill me. I'm not sure when the next chapter will be out, but I already have part of it written.

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Chapter 21

Madame Pomfrey came out of her office when the wards let her know that someone had just entered. She blinked when she saw who it was. "Miss Granger, what is going on?"

Hermione quickly set Danny down on the nearest bed. "We don't know. We were just walking to the library when Danny staggered out of a hall in front of us. Once we were sure it was okay to move him, we brought him up here."

Madame Pomfrey quickly cast several diagnosis charms over Danny. "Hmm. Wonderful. Whatever potion they used, he's having a bad reaction to it. He'll wake up soon."

Danny woke up slowly, something he really didn't like. After two years of hunting ghosts, he had learned to sleep lightly and whenever he could. Then another thing hit him, and he abruptly sat up, hand clapped over his mouth.

Madame Pomfrey recognized the signs of someone seriously considering if they could aim over the side in time and quickly conjured a bucket which she handed to him.

Danny snatched the bucket and puked up what felt like everything he'd eaten in the last month. Harry, Ron, and Hermione all winced, but Pomfrey simply watched.

When he seemed to be done, Pomfrey cast a diagnostic charm meant to tell her everything about her patient. Her eyebrows shot up at the results, but fortunately she had the presence of mind to clear them before anybody else could see it. "Good news is you should be fine in a few minutes. Bad news, I don't know what potion it was."

Danny shoved the bucket to the end of the cot, where Pomfrey promptly cast a vanishing charm to get rid of it. "Great. Hopefully they won't try it again." He rubbed his temples and muttered, "I hate getting drugged."

Pomfrey frowned, but decided not to question his soft words. "At any rate, I'm keeping you in here today." Turning away, she quickly shooed the trio out. "Go on, you can bring him some homework to do."

Danny looked at her warily. Something told him that she had a reason to shoo the three out. When she turned around and he caught her expression, he was sure of it. "What?"

Pomfrey sighed and cast a privacy spell around them. Danny blinked at it, but he was quickly drawn back to Pomfrey when she spoke. "I would very much like to know how a boy who seems to have lived as a muggle could be only half human."

Danny gaped at her, and without thinking about it his gaze flicked around, gauging his chances of escape. Pomfrey frowned and reached out to touch his arm. He flinched, but looked at her.

Pomfrey's frown deepened at the look in his eyes. 'He's half a breath from panicking.' "Don't worry. I won't say anything unless you give me permission."

Danny watched her warily for a long moment before deciding that she was telling the truth. "How did you know?"

Pomfrey sighed and cast the same diagnostic charm as before, frowning when he flinched. Handing him the parchment that formed, she spoke as he studied it. "That was a diagnostic charm, a kind of deep scan. It tells me everything I need to know about my patients. In your case, it tells me that you're only half human. I obviously don't know what you're other half is."

Danny sighed softly in relief as he studied the results of her 'deep scan.' "Someone's coming," he announced.

Pomfrey frowned and was about to ask how he knew that when a third year came in with several of her friends. She quickly got rid of the privacy charm and stalked over. "Alright, what is it?"

A boy stepped forward. "Well, we were playing Quidditch and Cynthia was knocked offa her broom."

Danny tuned out the rest of it and turned back to the scroll. At the top, it had his name, and underneath that it said, - ½ human, ½ unknown. - Underneath that was a detailed list of his physical condition. He sighed and rolled it up, sitting back to wait for Pomfrey to take care of the third year girl.

When Pomfrey came back, Danny gave her a measuring look, but he didn't speak until she put the privacy charm up once more. "You said you wouldn't tell anyone."

Pomfrey nodded. "Healer-patient confidentiality. I won't tell anyone unless telling could save your life. Since I have no idea what you are besides human that will only apply if and when you decide to tell me."

Danny sighed and finally looked away from her sharp gaze. "I can't."

Pomfrey gave him a shrewd look. "Can't or won't?"

Danny smiled slightly. "Both."

She waited for him to elaborate, but when he didn't she sighed. "Alright. If you ever change your mind, I'll be here. But in the meantime, you're staying here for now." She stood and once more cancelled her privacy charm. "Your friends should be here soon."

Danny watched as she walked away. Once he was sure she was gone, he channeled a small ecto-blast through his hand and into the scroll. It disrupted the magic which made it up, and it disappeared.

_(break)_

Voldemort snarled. "What do you mean, you failed?"

The boy who had tried to send Danny to his master was in full prostration. "I'm sorry, my lord. I did everything you asked, but he dodged the portkey and seemed to disappear. By the time I found him again, Potter and his friends already had him."

"I don't want excuses, I want results! _Crucio!_" The boy screamed, and Voldemort watched dispassionately as he thrashed. After a long moment, he canceled the curse. "Perhaps I should give you another chance," he mused. "Or perhaps I should make an example of you. Hmmm, decisions…"

The boy, an unimportant seventh year Ravenclaw, said nothing. He knew that nothing he could possibly say would sway the Dark Lord in any way except to annoy him more.

_(break)_

Soon after Madame Pomfrey left him alone, Harry, Ron and Hermione came back, lugging their bags. Danny blinked. "Study party?" he asked wryly.

Ron shrugged and gestured discreetly at Hermione, who didn't seem to notice. "As long as you're here, we might as well work together," she commented. She raised an eyebrow, making him think of McGonagall. "Besides, you've been neglecting you're schoolwork. I don't think Professor McGonagall put any kind of time limit on your animagus studies."

Danny grimaced. "Yeah, I know. But the ears are _hard_. I must have found about a hundred ways to screw up with them."

Hermione smiled slightly. "Then work on something else, and when you go back to it, maybe it'll be easier."

Seeing he was about to protest again, Harry shook his head. "Don't bother, she really digs in when she knows she's right." He thumped Danny's bag on the end of the bed. "Besides, I know how boring it is to be stuck in the Hospital Wing. We might as well study together."

Danny blew hair out of his eyes. "Fine, fine. I'll work on Charms."

Hermione frowned again. "You need to work on Herbology, too, Danny."

Danny rolled his eyes and muttered something unflattering about gardening. When he saw the look Hermione shot him, he shook his head. "I'll get Neville to help me. He understands it better than anyone but the teacher, anyway."

Hermione had to admit he had a point there, so they settled into studying with no more interruptions.

_(break)_

After a while, Ron stretched backward in his seat, glad to be done with his Transfiguration essay. "Hey Danny? How'd you get drugged, anyway?" Harry and Hermione also looked up, curious.

Danny shrugged. "I was exploring and someone came up behind me and threw a potions vial or something. If I'd been thinking, I would have tried to catch it, but whoever it was caught me by surprise." He wrote a bit more in his own essay, and added, "Good thing I dodged the other thing. Felt kind of like apparating. Who knows where I would've ended up?"

Suddenly, he seemed to realize they were staring at him. He blinked and looked up. "What?"

"Someone threw a portkey at you? You were almost kidnapped and you're just now mentioning it?" Harry asked. "Aren't you worried it could happen again?"

Danny snorted. "At least now I know there's something going on. Whoever it was won't catch me by surprise again." He stretched out and grabbed a book from the end of his bed. "Not like they could hold onto me, anyway," he muttered. Only Ron heard him, and Hermione spoke before he could ask.

"Danny! How do you know it wasn't Voldemort? Next time you might not get so lucky!"

Danny frowned at her. "Exactly. I was lucky. And now that I know there's something going on, I'll be more careful."

Hermione growled. "At least tell a teacher! They'd be able to—"

"Do what? Tell me not to go exploring alone? I don't know who did it or why, so there's no point. They won't be able to do anything," Danny told her flatly.

"But still!" Hermione protested.

Harry shook his head. "He's right, Mione. We all know that's exactly what would happen."

Danny nodded. "And there's no way I could do it. If I can't get away from everyone for a while, I'll go nuts."

Ron frowned. "Hey."

Danny shook his head. "That's not what I meant. You've all been going to Hogwarts for years. You're used to sleeping in a room with five others and going straight from breakfast to classes in the morning." He twisted around until his back cracked, then twisted the other way. "Why do you think I end up sleeping in the Common Room so much?" He pointed at Ron. "You snore. Loudly. And I'm a light sleeper."

Ron blushed at the blunt observation, but since he'd been hearing the same thing from his roommates for years, he couldn't exactly complain.

Harry frowned. "That does explain a lot. I hadn't thought of it that way."

Danny shrugged. "This is my first time going to a boarding school. I knew there'd be some kinks to work out when I started, I just didn't realize how much it'd all affect me." He frowned. "Good thing Jazz isn't here. She'd want to do some study on it. 'Sleeping habits of boarding students and how it affects their social lives,' or something like that." He shuddered.

_(break)_

Voldemort smiled over the assembled Death Eaters. It was a hideous sight. "Welcome, my Death Eaters. You are here to witness a choice." He waved a hand and two of his bigger minions stepped forward, dragging the seventh year Ravenclaw between them. The boy was struggling now, regretting his decision to join Voldemort, but without his wand, he was helpless.

Voldemort held up the boy's wand. "Marcus Vellon, your choice is simple. You can either go through the portal into the 'Ghost Zone'… or stay and become our night's entertainment."

The Ravenclaw hung between his two captors. He wasn't stupid; either way would end up with him dead, and probably in pieces. But if he stayed, the other Death Eaters would do everything they could to prolong the torment. "I'll go through the portal," he answered boldly. If the choice was between torture and a quicker, just as messy, death, he'd take the death.

_(break)_

Straight backed and proud, Mark stared at the swirling green of the portal. Voldemort had already returned his wand, speaking mockingly about how he should fight well. Without a single glance back, he stepped through.

On the other side, he wavered, caught by surprise. There was land under him, but based on what he could see, it was probably just a small, floating island. He looked around, and smiled at what he saw. "So it is my fate to meet the Grim…"

_(break)_

When Mark's almost unmarked body was sent back through the portal, he was still smiling.

Voldemort raised an eyebrow. He'd thought the boy would be ripped apart, like his other Death Eaters had been. "Interesting."

_(break)_

Danny stared at the ceiling. Madame Pomfrey had decided to keep him overnight and in the hours since the lights went out in the Hospital Wing he'd gotten very familiar with the ceiling. Finally, he sighed and sat up. It didn't look like he'd be getting any sleep tonight. He would have liked to do something productive, but not even his night vision was good enough to read and write without some light. And he had no way to turn the lights on…

Danny looked down at his hands and sighed. If he was forgetting the simple fact that he could _make his own_ light, maybe he needed sleep more than he'd thought. But something about the environment of the Hospital Wing just made it impossible for him to sleep.

Leaning over, Danny snagged the strap of his school bag and pulled it up, wondering if Hermione had bothered to take out the Anatomy of Your Animagus Form book or not. His eyes turned green and began to glow brightly as he looked. It made colors look a little strange, but he'd need his wand if the book was still there. Besides, the glowing eyes were better than having a glowing ball of light hanging over his shoulder.

Danny found the book he was looking for near the bottom of the bag, and grinned as he pulled it out. Soon, he was flipping to the section he was currently working on: animal ears while he was still mostly human.

With that done, Danny set the book in front of him, took a deep breath, and began to meditate. McGonagall had told him that he wasn't allowed to skip the meditation part until he got the ears exactly right. Take deep breaths, ignore the fact that he was probably beginning to float, and imagine his ears changing. See how they are now, and see how you want them to be…

The image floated through his mind, of his ears darkening, lengthening, and moving upwards. He imagined the way the internal parts of his ears were changing as well, and soon, he was dropping out of meditation once more. Literally dropping, as he came down the last three inches or so.

With a quick flick of his wand, Danny performed the diagnostic charm Professor McGonagall had taught him. It was a relatively simple one, and made especially for those learning the animagus transformation. The diagram of his ears was still red. Danny sighed and turned his ears back before he bent to study the diagram, wondering what he'd messed up this time.

After what must have been the 50th or so mistake, Danny had asked McGonagall why the charm didn't show _where_ the problem was. She'd smiled wryly and pointed out that most people would be so focused on fixing the mistake, that they'd miss something else. Besides, many details were small enough that if only the mistakes were lit up in red, someone could easily miss them and think they'd gotten it right.

Danny had to admit, as he went over the two diagrams with a fine-toothed comb, occasionally tapping his wand to make certain parts bigger, that she was probably right. Finally, he found the tiny, misshapen bone that was probably throwing him off this time. He didn't have a clue why it was important, and didn't particularly care. For now, he was ready to try again.

Danny set the diagnostic result aside and settled into meditation once more. Another thing Professor McGonagall had told him was to fix his mistakes one at a time. It was far too easy to mess up when you were trying to juggle three or four delicate details all at once.

_(break)_

Nearly an hour and at least ten tries later, Danny sat staring at his diagnostic result. It was green. He even blinked his eyes back to normal and used _lumos_ to be sure he wasn't just imagining things. Nope, still green. "I finally got it right?" He threw his arms up in the air and hissed out a loud _Yessss!_

Now all he had to do was keep the ears for a few minutes so his magic could 'learn' the right form, and then go back and forth three or four times to make sure it stuck, using the diagnostic charm each time. Danny set the latest one on top of his small stack and wondered what he should do now. He could study, but he didn't really feel like it, and besides the four of them had gotten quite a bit done that afternoon.

Danny sighed and rolled off of the bed, passing through his books without disturbing a single page. He walked over to the nearest window and stared out, his hands forming an ecto-blast almost without thinking about it. He kneaded and rolled it in his hands like play dough until it was a smooth and featureless ball. Then he flattened it and started again.

It was something that he'd started soon after Clockwork started training him. The ghost had told him it was a good exercise in control, and ever since he'd found himself doing it when he was alone and bored or just needed to do something with his hands.

After about five minutes or so of this, Danny sighed and let his ears return to normal. _That_ part he'd been able to do for a while now. It wasn't like he hadn't gotten enough practice in doing it, after all.

Danny went back and climbed into the bed once more, and did a quick back-and-forth three times, using the diagnostic charm to make sure he'd gotten it right. Once he was done, he stuck his diagnostic results in the book, put the book back in his bag, the bag on the floor, and curled up in the bed once more. 'Maybe this time I'll actually sleep.'

Without really thinking about it, Danny changed his ears back to the form he'd been trying to achieve for so long. Listening to the breathing of the few others who were being kept overnight, Danny finally drifted off to sleep.

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The next morning, Madame Pomfrey came into the ward, intending to check her patients. None of her wards had gone off, and Harry Potter wasn't currently in her care, but she knew better than to assume that everything was fine until she checked personally.

One badly broken arm on a certain Hufflepuff third year girl, which she'd wanted to keep an eye on, and a boy who'd come down with a bad cold, his friend who had _also_ caught it before they were willing to come to her…

Madame Pomfrey blinked when she got to a certain confusing transfer student. She'd just found out the day before that he was half human, though he was certainly Muggleborn, but that wasn't what had her staring. No, _that _was because ofthe large, furry black ears that had replaced his normal, human one. With a sigh, she performed two different diagnostic charms.

'Well, Minerva should be pleased that he finally managed to get the ears right. She mentioned that he was having trouble with it.' She shook her head. 'But what was he _thinking_, sleeping partially transformed?'

"You should be glad that such a small relative change hasn't drained your energy dangerously, Mr. Fenton. Even so, I'm going to give you an energy-replenishing potion with your breakfast, and you_ will_ drink it."

"Yes, Madame Pomfrey," Danny answered sleepily. She glanced up and watched him stretch and yawn in an oddly canine way, his ears flattening back in the process. Then he shook his head hard enough to cause his ears to flap before they shrank and turned back into human ears. "How'd you know I was awake?"

Madame Pomfrey snorted. "Diagnostic charm." She shook her head and went to her office to order breakfast for her patients and find the potions they'd need.

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I was just poking through reviews for this chapter, and several people guessed Danny's animagus form! Congratulations Blue Wolf Moon, Mad Scientist 007, starr1097, magdilen, Danni Lea, Tegan Shade, Firehedgehog, Forgottem Memories, Biisaiyowaq, Chuni Luni, and Wragziez. Sorry if I missed someone, but I only counted the ones that said the right animal, not just those who guessed it among several. If you want to find out before the next chapter or whenever I actually say it, you'll have to look for yourself. ; P

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AN: Yes, I know it's been forever. Sorry, but I got a bit sidetracked. Hopefully the next chapter won't take so long. If you want to kill me, just remember that there is more to the story. I have a fair idea what the ending is like, but getting there is another story entirely. Sorry.


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